Apollo on Ice ...

... land. Ohno, who knew?

Of all my expectations for this trip, Iceland's contribution to the NASA Apollo program was not among them.

Fifty years ago, when the Apollo astronauts were preparing for their Moon missions, they needed training in geology. What better place than Iceland? It looks like another planet everywhere you look.

In 2015, many of them returned to Iceland to revisit the training areas and study recent lava flows.

t was very special to be back in Iceland after all these years.  Hard to believe; half a century has passed!  It was a great reminder of the wonderful friendly people of Iceland, somewhat typified by the fact that our hosts had gotten hold of the very same old Mercedes bus that had carted us out to the remote geologic sites 50 years before… and employed it to do so again!  Not only that, but the very capable and informative bus driver was the grandson of the bus driver we had 50 years ago. Now that’s not only interesting, but mindful!”
- Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 Astronaut

At that time, they also dedicated a plaque at the Exploration Museam in Husavik to commemorate the original Apollo astronauts.