. >> reporter: but neil armstrong, buzzal derren and michael collins weren't geologists.t was up to these two to train them. >> initially they were not that enthusiastic about being geology, they were jet jockeys. >> i think the term is fly jocks. >> well, you can select whatever term you want. in any case, they were not particularly interested, but once they got into it, they found it was a lot of fun. >> reporter: other words they got a crash course in geology. they trained at a nearby cinder field and studied rock formations. nearly 4,000 feet in diameter and more than 500 feet deep. it's believed to have been created by an impact approximately 50,000 years ago. >> eugene schumaker used this as his laboratory to show the astronauts how to identify the different rocks once they got to the moon. >> reporter: meteor crater tour guide jeff beale says they didn't have much time to learn. >> they were here for about two days. >> two days? that's a hell of a crash course. >> reporter: but the trainees also brought common sense. >> buzz aldrin walked past this limestone and ri