Pahute Mesa

This allows tests in the megaton range to be fully contained with minimal ground motion being felt in Las Vegas.

Pahute Mesa was thus incorporated into the boundary of the NNSS in late 1963 under an agreement between the United States Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Air Force.

[3] Pahute Mesa is part of the Tonopah Basin and includes the Silent Canyon caldera complex of the Southwest Nevada volcanic field.

It was used along with other areas of the NNSS to train some of the astronauts of the Apollo program, among them Neil Armstrong, Dick Gordon, Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott and Rusty Schweickart.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of Energy.

Location of Pahute Mesa within the Nevada National Security Site
Aerial view of Pahute Mesa
The Soviet Union flag is raised to the top of the emplacement tower to be flown beside the U.S. flag for the Kearsarge test.
Apollo 16 astronauts train in the Lunar rover by driving over a near-lunar landscape at the Schooner crater site in Area 20