Lunar Legacy: An Astral Abode

A house built on a crater in Germany, belonging to a geology enthusiast, was used for Apollo astronaut training in the 1960s. Today, the house still stands on a significant part of space history.

As a schoolteacher with a passion for geology, it was only fitting that Mr Kavasch lived in a house built upon an impact crater.

The rock collector grew up in Nördlingen, a central town in Southern Germany, unlike any other in its district. It remains one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the country, with completely intact historic walls and a reputation for having particularly picturesque surroundings.

Within the area was the site of a thirty-year religious battle, as the city was a Protestant enclave within a predominantly Catholic Bavaria. A long-standing church lies in the very centre of the crater on which the town sits. It is made from the rock suevite, essentially ejecta (the material that results from an impact, such as fragments of granite and lumps of glass). Many cathedrals, or domes as they are known in Germany, are built with this chaotic stone, reflecting the destruction that ensued following the formation of the Ries Crater almost 15 million years ago.

Inside the house, which groaned under the weight of the fossil hunters many treasured rocks, it became clear that this land could be utilised for NASA field studies. Due to the accessibility of the crater, it was the ideal location for Apollo astronauts to undergo geological training. This allowed them to investigate lunar impact structures and related rocks. American astronauts from Apollo 14 and 17 were sent to the area where its civilisation and instant access allowed them to learn how to collect materials from crater edges before their travels to the Moon.

Following Mr Kavasch’s instrumental research in proving this sight was an impact crater, he was able to get involved with organising the astronauts’ visit and offered scientific expertise. Some of the famous astronauts, namely Alan Shepard, the first American to travel into space, and John Glen, who was the first American to orbit the Earth, even stayed in the house as part of their visit.

Interest in the area is ever-growing, as there is now a museum in Nördlingen dedicated to the famous crater.

Reflecting upon the story, Andrew Watt, a marital relative of Kavasch, said, “For my generation, this was hero stuff!”

© [Skye McCord] [2023]. All rights reserved.