Browse All : Images of NASA Headquarters and Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) and Edwards Air Force Base

Photo Date	1958

Virginia. From 1981 to 1999, he served on the board of directors for Eaton Corp. He served as chairman of the board of AIL Systems, Inc. of Deer Park, New York, until 1999 and in 2000 was elected chairman of the board of EDO Corp., a manaufacturer of electronic and mechanical systems for the aerospace, defense and industrial markets, based in New York City. From 1985 to 1986, Armstrong served on the National Commission on Space, a presidential committee to develop goals for a national space program into the 21st century. He was also Vice Chairman of the committee investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. During the early 1990s he hosted an aviation documentary series for television entitled First Flights.

Photo Description	NASA test pilot Neil Armstrong is seen here next to the X-15 ship #1 (56-6670) after a research flight. Neil A. Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (later NASA?s Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, and today the Glenn Research Center) in 1955. Later that year, he transferred to the NACA?s High-Speed Flight Station (today, NASA?s Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California as an aeronautical research scientist and then as a pilot, a position he held until becoming an astronaut in 1962. He was one of nine NASA astronauts in the second class to be chosen. As a research pilot Armstrong served as project pilot on the F-100A and F-100C aircraft, F-101, and the F-104A. He also flew the X-1B, X-5, F-105, F-106, B-47, KC-135, and Paresev. He left Dryden with a total of over 2450 flying hours. He was a member of the USAF-NASA Dyna-Soar Pilot Consultant Group before the Dyna-Soar project was cancelled, and studied X-20 Dyna-Soar approaches and abort maneuvers through use of the F-102A and F5D jet aircraft. Armstrong was actively engaged in both piloting and engineering aspects of the X-15 program from its inception. He completed the first flight in the aircraft equipped with a new flow-direction sensor (ball nose) and the initial flight in an X-15 equipped with a self-adaptive flight control system. He worked closely with designers and engineers in development of the adaptive system, and made seven flights in the rocket plane from December 1960 until July 1962. During those fights he reached a peak altitude of 207,500 feet in the X-15-3, and a speed of 3,989 mph (Mach 5.74) in the X-15-1. Armstrong was born August 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He attended Purdue University, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. During the Korean War, which interrupted his engineering studies, he flew 78 combat missions in F9F-2 jet fighters. He was awarded the Air Medal and two Gold Stars. He later earned a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. Armstrong has a total of 8 days and 14 hours in space, including 2 hours and 48 minutes walking on the Moon. In March 1966 he was commander of the Gemini 8 orbital space flight with David Scott as pilot?the first successful docking of two vehicles in orbit. On July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 lunar mission, he became the first human to set foot on the Moon. From 1969 to 1971 he was Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters, and resigned from NASA in August 1971 to become Professor of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, a post he held until 1979. He became Chairman of the Board of Cardwell International, Ltd., in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1980 and served in that capacity until 1982. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., in Charlottesville,, Virginia. From 1981 to 1999, he served on the board of directors for Eaton Corp. He served as chairman of the board of AIL Systems, Inc. of Deer Park, New York, until 1999 and in 2000 was elected chairman of the board of EDO Corp., a manaufacturer of electronic and mechanical systems for the aerospace, defense and industrial markets, based in New York City. From 1985 to 1986, Armstrong served on the National Commission on Space, a presidential committee to develop goals for a national space program into the 21st century. He was also Vice Chairman of the committee investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. During the early 1990s he hosted an aviation documentary series for television entitled First Flights.
Project Description	The X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft 50 ft long with a wingspan of 22 ft. It was a missile-shaped vehicle with an unusual wedge-shaped vertical tail, thin stubby wings, and unique fairings that extended along the side of the fuselage. The X-15 weighed about 14,000 lb empty and approximately 34,000 lb at launch. The XLR-99 rocket engine, manufactured by Thiokol Chemical Corp., was pilot controlled and was capable of developing 57,000 lb of rated thrust (actual thrust reportedly climbed to 60,000 lb). North American Aviation built three X-15 aircraft for the program. The X-15 research aircraft was developed to provide in-flight information and data on aerodynamics, structures, flight controls, and the physiological aspects of high-speed, high-altitude flight. A follow-on program used the aircraft as a testbed to carry various scientific experiments beyond the Earth's atmosphere on a repeated basis. For flight in the dense air of the usable atmosphere, the X-15 used conventional aerodynamic controls such as rudder surfaces on the vertical stabilizers to control yaw and canted horizontal surfaces on the tail to control pitch when moving in synchronization or roll when moved differentially. For flight in the thin air outside of the appreciable Earth's atmosphere, the X-15 used a reaction control system. Hydrogen peroxide thrust rockets located on the nose of the aircraft provided pitch and yaw control. Those on the wings provided roll control. Because of the large fuel consumption, the X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at 45,000 ft and a speed of about 500 mph. Depending on the mission, the rocket engine provided thrust for the first 80 to 120 sec of flight. The remainder of the normal 10 to 11 min. flight was powerless and ended with a 200-mph glide landing. Generally, one of two types of X-15 flight profiles was used: a high-altitude flight plan that called for the pilot to maintain a steep rate of climb, or a speed profile that called for the pilot to push over and maintain a level altitude. The X-15 was flown over a period of nearly 10 years--June 1959 to Oct. 1968--and set the world's unofficial speed and altitude records of 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7) and 354,200 ft (over 67 mi) in a program to investigate all aspects of piloted hypersonic flight. Information gained from the highly successful X-15 program contributed to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo manned spaceflight programs, and also the Space Shuttle program. The X-15s made a total of 199 flights and were manufactured by North American Aviation. X-15-1, serial number 56-6670, is now located at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC. North American X-15A-2, serial number 56-6671, is at the United States Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The X-15-3, serial number 56-6672, crashed on 15 November 1967, resulting in the death of Maj. Michael J. Adams.
Photo Date	1960s

Title	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) engine test firing on ramp
Description	This 1964 NASA Flight Reserch Center photograph shows a ground engine test underway on the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) number 1. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA Flight Research Center had, accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings.
Date	01.01.1964

Title	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) in flight
Description	In this 1965 NASA Flight Reserch Center photograph the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) number 1 is shown in flight. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA Flight Research Center had accumulated enough data, from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings.
Date	01.01.1965

Title	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) in flight
Description	An inflight view from the left side of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, is shown in this 1964 NASA Flight Research Center photograph. The photograph was taken in front of the old NACA hangar located at the South Base, Edwards Air Force Base. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60, seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA Flight Research Center had accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings.
Date	01.01.1964

Title	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) in flight
Description	Flight Research Center had accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings., In this 1965 NASA Flight Reserch Center photograph the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) is shown at near maximum altitude over the south base at Edwards Air Force Base. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA
Date	01.01.1965

Title	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) in flight lifting off from ramp
Description	Center had accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings., This 1964 NASA Flight Reserch Center photograph shows the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) number 1 in flight at the south base of Edwards Air Force Base. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA Flight Research
Date	01.01.1964

Title	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) sitting on ramp
Description	In this 1966 NASA Flight Reserch Center photograph, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) number 2 sitting on the ramp. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA Flight Research Center had accumulated enough data, from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings.
Date	01.01.1966

Title	Neil A. Armstrong
Description	Neil A. Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1955. He transferred to the NACA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in July 1955, as an aeronautical research scientist. He became a research pilot later that year. Neil was named as one of nine astronauts for NASA's Gemini and Apollo Projects, leaving the Center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, in September 1962. Upon graduation from High School in 1947, Armstrong received a scholarship from the U.S. Navy. He enrolled at Purdue University to begin the study of aeronautical engineering. In 1949, the Navy called him to active duty and he became a navy pilot. In 1950, he was sent to Korea where he flew 78 combat missions from the carrier USS Essex in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther. He received the Air Medal and two Gold Stars. In 1952, Armstrong returned to Purdue University and graduated with a bachelors degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. He later earned a masters degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. At the High-Speed Flight Station (which later became the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center) Armstrong served as project pilot on the North American F-100A and -C aircraft, McDonnell F-101, and the Lockheed F-104A. He also flew the Bell X-1B (4 flights, first on August 15, 1957), Bell X-5 (one flight, the last in the program, on October 25, 1955) and the Paresev. On November 30, 1960, Armstrong made his first flight in the X-15. He made a total of seven flights in the rocket plane reaching an altitude of 207,500 feet in the X-15-3 and a Mach number of 5.74 (3,989 mph) in the X-15-1. He left the Flight Research Center with a total of 2450 flying hours in more than 50 aircraft types. He was a member of the USAF-NASA Dyna-Soar Pilot Consultant Group, and studied X-20 Dyna-Soar approaches and abort maneuvers through use of the F-102A and F5D jet aircraft. Armstrong later accumulated a total of 8 days and 14 hours in space, including 2 hours and 48 minutes walking on the Moon. In March 1966, he was commander of the Gemini 8 mission that performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As spacecraft commander for the Apollo 11 lunar mission, on July 20, 1969, he became the first human to set foot on the Moon. In 1970 he was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters. He resigned in 1971. Neil wrote several technical reports and presented a number of research papers. In June 1962, the Octave Chanute Award was presented to Neil by the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences. Other awards received by Neil have included the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
Date	01.01.1958

Title	Pilot Joe Walker in Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) on ramp
Description	In this 1964 NASA Flight Research Center photograph, NASA Pilot Joe Walker is setting in the pilot's platform of the the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) number 1. This photograph provides a good view of the pilot setting in front of the primary instrumentation panel. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Dryden contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the NASA Flight Research Center's (FRC) Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) became the most significant one. Hubert M. Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman, the project manager. Simultaneously, and independently, Bell Aerosystems Company, Buffalo, N.Y., a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, had conceived a similar free-flying simulator and proposed their concept to NASA headquarters. NASA Headquarters put FRC and Bell together to collaborate. The challenge was, to allow a pilot to make a vertical landing on earth in a simulated moon environment, one sixth of the earth's gravity and with totally transparent aerodynamic forces in a "free flight" vehicle with no tether forces acting on it. Built of tubular aluminum like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile from around 1500 feet to the moon's surface. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in gimbals, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine, using JP-4 fuel, got the vehicle up to the test altitude and was then throttled back to support five-sixths of the vehicle's weight, simulating the reduced gravity of the moon. Two hydrogen-peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 pounds handled the LLRV's rate of descent and horizontal translations. Sixteen smaller hydrogen-peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. On the LLRV, in case of jet engine failure, six-500-pounds-of thrust rockets could be used by the pilot to carefully apply lift thrust during the rapid descent to hopefully achieve a controllable landing. The pilot's platform extended forward between two legs while an electronics platform, similarly located, extended rearward. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. Weight and balance design constraints were among the most challenging to meet for all phases of the program (design, development, operations). The two LLRVs were shipped disassembled from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis placed on vehicle No. 1. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards Air Force Base. On the day of the first flight, Oct. 30, 1964, NASA research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a, total of just under 60 seconds, to a peak altitude of approximately 10 feet. By mid-1966 the NASA Flight Research Center had accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program to give Bell a contract to deliver three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTVs) at a cost of $2.5 million each. As 1966 ended, the LLRV #1 had flown 198 flights, and the LLRV #2 was being assembled, instrumented and cockpit modifications made at the South Base. The first flight of the number two LLRV in early January 1967 was quickly followed by five more. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in mid January 1967. When Dryden's LLRVs arrived at Houston they joined the first of the LLTVs to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. All five vehicles were relied on for simulation and training of moon landings.
Date	01.01.1964

Title	F-15 RPRV landing on lakebed
Description	This photograph shows NASA's 3/8th-scale remotely piloted research vehicle landing on Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1975. In April of 1971, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development Grant Hanson sent a memorandum noting the comparatively small amount of research being conducted on stalls (losses of lift) and spins despite the yearly losses that they caused (especially of fighter aircraft). In the spring and summer of that year, NASA's Flight Research Center (redesignated in 1976 the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California) studied the feasibility of conducting flight research with a sub-scale fighter-type Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle (RPRV) in the stall-spin regime. In November, NASA Headquarters approved flight research for a 3/8-scale F-15 RPRV. It would measure aerodynamic derivatives of the aircraft throughout its angle-of-attack range and compare them with those from wind tunnels and full-scale flight. (Angle of attack refers to the angle of the wings or fuselage with respect to the prevailing wind.) The McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Co., builder of the full-size F-15, designed and constructed three 3/8-scale mostly fiberglass, unpowered F-15 RPRV's for a little more than $250,000 apiece (compared with $6.8 million for a full-size F-15). The FRC set up a dedicated RPRV control facility in a room on the first floor next to the hangar for the RPRV and set up a much more sophisticated control system than was used for an earlier RPRV--the Hyper III. The control facility featured a digital uplink capability, a ground computer, a television monitor, and a telemetry system. Launched from a B-52, the first F-15 RPRV flew its initial flight on October 12, 1973. The initial flights were recovered in mid-air by helicopters, but later flights employed horizontal landings by the remote research pilot, who "flew" the aircraft from the RPRV control facility. Chosen because of the risks involved in spin testing a full-scale fighter aircraft, the remotely piloted research technique enabled the pilot to interact with the vehicle much as he did in normal flight. Flying remotely, however, called for some special techniques to make up for the cues available to a pilot in the airplane but not to a remote pilot. It also allowed the flight envelope to be expanded more rapidly than conventional flight research methods permitted for piloted vehicles. During its first 26 flights, through the end of 1975, flight research over an angle-of-attack range of minus 20 degrees to plus 53 degrees with the 3/8-scale vehicle in the basic F-15 configuration allowed FRC engineers to test the mathematical model of the aircraft in an angle-of-attack range not previously examined in flight research. The basic airplane configuration proved to be resistant to departure from straight and level flight, hence to spins, however, the vehicle could be flown into a spin using a technique developed in the simulator. Data, obtained during the first 26 flights gave researchers a better understanding of the spin characteristics of the full-scale fighter. Researchers later obtained spin data with the vehicle in other configurations at angles of attack as large as minus 70 degrees and plus 88 degrees. There were 35 flights of the 3/8-scale F-15s by the end of 1978 and 52 flights by mid-July of 1981. These included some in which the vehicle--redesignated the Spin Research Vehicle after it was modified from the basic F-15 configuration--evaluated the effects of an elongated nose and a wind-tunnel-designed nose strake (among other modifications) on the airplane's stall/spin characteristics. Results of flight research with these modifications indicated that the addition of the nose strake increased the vehicle's resistance to departure from the intended flight path, especially entrance into a spin. Large differential tail deflections, a tail chute, and a nose chute all proved effective as spin recovery techniques, although it was essential to release the nose chute once it had deflated in order to prevent an inadvertent reentry into a spin. Overall, remote piloting with the 3/8-scale F-15 provided high-quality data about spin characteristics. The SRV was about 23 and one-half feet long and had a 16-foot wing span.
Date	01.01.1975

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