Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, to work on his Master of Science degree in reliability engineering. While at AFIT, Chaffee continued participating in astronaut candidate testing as the pool of candidates dropped to 271 in mid-1963. It was noted during testing that he had a very small lung capacity but he used it better than most people with greater capacity. On his return from a hunting trip to Fairborn, Ohio, on October 14, 1963, he found a message from NASA in Houston, Texas. He called them back, and discovered he had been chosen as an astronaut. On October 18, 1963, it was officially announced that he was one of fourteen chosen for NASA's third group of astronauts. He said, "I was very pleased with the appointment. I've always wanted to fly and perform adventurous flying tasks all my life. Ever since the first seven Mercury astronauts were named, I've been keeping my studies up." Training Phase one of training for the third group of astronauts began in 1964 in lecture halls. Lectures in several fields were supplemented with trips to locations with geological significance so the astronauts gained hands-on experience. As well as piloting the spacecraft, the astronauts were to perform scientific experiments and measurements on the Moon. The astronauts traveled to the Grand Canyon to learn about geography and to Alaska, Iceland, and Hawaii to learn about rock formations and lava flows. The second phase was contingency training, which focused on astronauts learning the skills required to survive if the landing did not occur where planned. The group started their training by being dropped off in the middle of the jungle in Panama. They performed the survival training in pairs, carrying only their parachutes and survival kits. Chaffee, with help from his Boy Scout training, foraged for enough food to survive during the three-day training mission. Following the jungle training, the astronauts traveled to an entirely different environment: the desert of Reno, Nevada. For clothing, the astronauts had only long underwear, shoes, and robes they manufactured from their parachutes. Lizards and snakes were the main source of food, and the astronauts used their parachutes as makeshift tents for shelter for the two days of desert training. The third and final phase was operational training for the astronauts. This focused on giving them hands-on experience using the instruments and equipment required during their spaceflight. They received training in