Meteor Crater

I have never been so impressed by a hole in the ground.  Seriously.

Driving from the Grand Canyon en route to Albuquerque, New Mexico, lies the best preserved meteorite crater on earth.  And here is the largest known meteorite fragment exhibited at the museum.  (it’s not nailed down or protected in any way – The museum says if you can steal it, you can have it, but it’s a few thousand kilograms so good luck)

At 3.86 kilometers, (2.4 miles) in circumference this crater is deep enough to have you at the top standing eye level with the Washington Monument.

What’s even more impressive is NASA uses this site for astronaut training to this day.

The museum is fantastic with loads of information including other craters around the world, how they’re formed and the types that exist.  But what I really found fascinating was the life of Eugene Shoemaker.  He was a man who wanted to go into space but due to health reasons, couldn’t.   With a little help from NASA, he made it into space, but only after death. They crashed him into a Comet.  (pretty cool way to go)

A pioneer in astrology, throughout his life, he assisted the astronauts at the crater in how to harvest examples on the moon.  Sadly, he died in a car accident in Australia.  His work at the crater still lives on to this day.