Astronaut Updates NASA Training at Colorado Site

On 8 July the Colorado National Guard’s High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (HAATS) in Gypsum, Colorado, hosted astronaut Charlie Duke, one of only 12 moonwalkers. Since 2021, HAATS has partnered with NASA to train astronauts on rotary-wing operations at high elevations.

Since 2021, HAATS has been building a partnership with NASA, training astronauts on power management and rotary wing operations at higher elevations. Duke’s tour was as much an opportunity for him to see current NASA training as it was an opportunity for him to offer insights from his own experience.

“It was an incredible opportunity to learn from an astronaut who personally walked on the moon,” said Lt. Col. Scott Tucker, HAATS commander. Duke’s visit allowed him to validate HAATS’s training program, crucial for preparing Artemis astronauts for lunar missions.

NASA’s current mission, Artemis, is to return mankind to the moon and then set their sights on Mars. Although most NASA pilots come from a fixed-wing background, recent determinations from NASA have shown that lunar operations are more aligned with rotary-wing operations. NASA’s goal in partnering with HAATS is to build a program that will give every astronaut a shared base of knowledge that covers some of the challenges associated with landing on the moon.

“The best way to understand how to be successful is to go back and figure out what we learned in the 60s when we did those Apollo landings,” U.S. Army Lt. Col. Anne McClain, NASA astronaut, said.

Doug Wheelock, a NASA astronaut since 1998 and former Army aviator, has been a regular at HAATS, having visited more than 15 times since 2021. During that time, he has been instrumental in helping build the curriculum taught to NASA’s other astronauts. Duke, alongside Wheelock discussed integrating Apollo-era lessons into Artemis training. 

“We are going back to the moon and training with the HAATS team to get there,” said Wheelock.