Gene Shoemaker

This photograph shows Gene Shoemaker wearing a prototype rocket jetpack during field testing in Hopi Buttes, AZ in 1966. The USGS Astrogeology Science Center, which Shoemaker founded, played an integral role in field testing equipment for the Apollo missions to the Moon.



This photograph is Figure 43f in the Open File Report entitled "The U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Astrogeology—A Chronology of Activities from Conception through the End of Project Apollo (1960-1973)" by Gerald Schaber. The original image caption from that publication is:



"Figure 43-(f) close-up of a happy Gene wearing the rocket belt; USGS photo P141, F866252."