Two Apollo 15 crew members, riding a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) simulator, participate in geology training at the Cinder Lake crater field in Arizona.

Before the Apollo astronauts set foot on the moon, they underwent a routine of rigorous training in order to prepare themselves for the mission. While much of the training took place inside classrooms, simulators and at testing facilities, NASA also gave the astronauts hands-on experience in geology and taught them how to collect geological specimens by taking them out on field trips.

To make their training as realistic as possible, the crew trained at sites on Earth that was geologically and topographically similar to the moon. The Sea of Tranquillity, where the Apollo 11 Lunar Module was scheduled to land, is a large basaltic plain formed by ancient volcanoes. Such a volcanic field in Arizona was chosen as the training ground, but before training could begin NASA decided to alter it so that the landscape was more moon-like.