Meteor Crater

Officially known as the Barringer Meteorite Crater, and still privately owned by the Barringer family,  the crater was named for the mining engineer Daniel Moreau Barringer.  Barringer was one of the first people to claim that the crater was the result of an impact, contradicting the most eminent scientists of his time. The crater, a huge hole about a mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and 570 ft. deep, is located between Winslow and Flagstaff, about 6 miles south of I40 at exit 233.
 
Some Q&A from the Barringer web site:

How was the crater created?

About 50,000 years ago, a meteorite traveling about 20 km/s smashed into the Arizona desert. The explosion was equal to 2.5 megatons of TNT.

How do we know a meteorite created the crater?

Over the years, geologists and other scientists have identified a number of pieces of evidence pointing to a meteoritic impact. These include overturned rock layers around the crater, rocks that have been deformed by extreme temperature and pressure, and specific minerals created by meteoritic impacts.

What was the meteorite made out of?

The meteorite was made of nickel-iron and is estimated to have been about 45 meters (150 ft) across, weighing about 270,000 metric tons (300,000 tons).

Where is the meteorite now?

Scientists now believe that most of the meteorite vaporized on impact. Small meteoritic fragments have been found scattered around the crater

 The admission price is pretty stiff - $16 pp - but the visitors center is large and features an 80 seat widescreen movie theater, artifacts extensive scientific and interactive displays and free rim walking tours are scheduled regularly. And you can get a Subway sandwich here! We found it to be quite interesting and our rim guide tour was entertaining and knowledgeable. Well worth a stop.

in the 60's astronauts trained here in preparation for Apollo missions to the moon.

scenes from the movie Starman were filmed here