"From 1960 to 1975, NASA sent its astronauts to Morehead Planetarium, on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to train in celestial navigation. Over the course of Morehead's astronaut training program, sixty-two astronauts—including eleven of the twelve men who walked on the moon—trained in the planetarium dome. The astronauts learned to recognize stars, constellations, and other celestial objects from the perspectives they would use during flight.
The program served the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab missions. Americans were captivated by the "space race," and astronauts were some of the biggest celebrities of the era. To avoid undue attention and disruptions during the training days, Morehead protected the privacy of the astronauts and did not publicize their visits. Instead, staffers used the code name "Cookie Time" to identify when the astronauts would be on site, referring to the snacks available to astronauts during breaks.
The astronaut training program was developed by Morehead director Anthony Jenzano. Instructors operated the planetarium's equipment so that the astronauts would see simulated stars in proper position along their virtual flight paths. Technicians developed special "orbital line projectors" and other equipment needed for training assignments. Different missions required different equipment. For example, the Mercury missions used a modified flight simulator known as a Link trainer. The Gemini missions used a custom-built training simulator with openings that corresponded to the size and shape of the spacecraft windows; the simulator was mounted on a modified barber chair that could move at different angles to represent different positions of space flight. The Apollo missions also used a custom-built training simulator, but that simulator replaced the spacecraft window openings with an optical device.
Astronauts used their Morehead training to navigate using celestial objects, "sighting the stars" routinely to correct for periodic inaccuracies in navigation. They also used the training during emergency conditions on the Mercury-Atlas 9, Apollo 12, and Apollo 13 spaceflights. Eventually new technologies and improvements in computer-based navigation eliminated the need for astronauts to learn celestial navigation in the planetarium setting. Morehead's astronaut training program ended in 1975. Visitors to Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, opened in 1949, today view stars, constellations, and other celestial objects in the same dome.
References:
Colin Burgess, Moon Bound: Choosing and Preparing NASA's Lunar Astronauts (2013)
Monica Byrne, “To the Moon, from Chapel Hill,” Our State (January 2013), pp. 39-43; www.ourstate.com/morehead-planetarium
“Anthony Francis Jenzano, 1919-1997,” Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 30: 4, 1458-1459 (1998)
NASA Cultural Resources, Morehead Planetarium: (
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M. Campbell, Space Medicine Association History Timeline 1960 (2013): (
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W. Compton and C.Benson, Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab (1983)
B. Goesl, Projecting Human Spaceflight: The Key Role of Projection Planetariums for Astronaut Training and Human Spaceflight's Repercussions on Planetarium Culture (2010): (
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B. Goesl, Modern Projection Planetariums as Media of Iterative Reinvention. 7th Media in Transition conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011): (
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D. Hall, What You Should Know about Astronaut Training at Morehead Planetarium (1966)
J. Hill, Morehead History: Astronaut Training I (2002): (
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J. Hill, Morehead History: Astronaut Training II (2002): (
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S. Jarvis, When Planetariums Save Lives (2013): (
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T. Leonard, “Past Times: Once More into Space,” News and Observer (2011): (
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J. D. Marché, Theaters of Time and Space: American Planetaria, 1930-1970 (2005)
J. Palmer, “How Astronaut Training has Changed,” BBC News (2007): (
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D. Parry, Moonshot: The Inside Story of Mankind's Greatest Adventure (2009)
Location: Franklin Street in Chapel Hill
County: Orange
Original Date Cast: 2014"
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