Editing Meteor Crater (section)

=={{anchor|Visitor Center}}{{anchor|Barringer Crater Company}}Recent history==

During the 1960s and 1970s, [[NASA]] [[astronaut]]s trained in the crater to prepare for the [[Apollo mission]]s to the [[Moon]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.nau.edu/speccoll/exhibits/daysofarchives/lunar.html|title=Apollo Lunar Training|work=nau.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Phinney |first1=William |title=Science Training History of the Apollo Astronauts |date=2015 |publisher=NASA SP -2015-626 |pages=180, 187, 193, 220, 222, 224, 233–34, 238, 245}}</ref> and ongoing field training for astronauts continues to this day.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 January 2024 |title=Training |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exploration/training/ |access-date= |website=Lunar and Planetary Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 September 2019 |title=Astronauts descending into Meteor Crater in Winslow Arizona |url=https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/astronauts-descending-meteor-crater-winslow-arizona |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=USGS}}</ref>

[[File:Barringer crater as viewed from airplane (cropped).jpg|thumb|Barringer crater as viewed from airplane]]

On August 8, 1964, two commercial pilots in a [[Cessna 150]] flew low over the crater. After crossing the rim, they could not maintain level flight. The pilot attempted to circle in the crater to climb over the rim. During the attempted climb out, the aircraft stalled, crashed, and caught fire. The plane is commonly reported to have run out of fuel, but this is incorrect. Both occupants were severely injured, but survived.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=69872|title=ASN Aircraft accident 08-AUG-1964 Cessna 150 N6050T|author=Harro Ranter|work=aviation-safety.net}}</ref> A small portion of the wreckage not removed from the crash site remains visible.<ref>[http://www.meteorite-times.com/jims-fragments/plane-crash-meteor-crater/ Plane Crash At Meteor Crater Revisited], September 1, 2008 ''Meteorite-times.com''</ref>

In 2006, a project called METCRAX (for METeor CRAter eXperiment) investigated "the diurnal buildup and breakdown of basin temperature inversions or [[cold-air pool]]s and the associated physical and dynamical processes accounting for their evolving structure and morphology."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geo.msu.edu/research/climate/metcrax.html|title=University of Utah METCRAX page|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423132554/http://www.geo.msu.edu/research/climate/metcrax.html|archive-date=2012-04-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inscc.utah.edu/~whiteman/METCRAX/|title=METCRAX|work=utah.edu|access-date=2012-04-18|archive-date=2020-08-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200816025406/http://www.inscc.utah.edu/~whiteman/METCRAX/|url-status=dead}}</ref>