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LLRV in flight and landing o …
Title LLRV in flight and landing on ramp
Description This 26-second video clip shows the LLRV flying and landing. The LLRV's, humorously referred to as "flying bedsteads," were created by a predecessor of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and Bell Aerosystems Company, Niagra Falls, New York, to study and analyze piloting techniques needed to fly and land the tiny Apollo Lunar Module in the Moon's airless environment. (Dryden was known simply as the NASA Flight Research Center from 1959 to 1976.) Success of the LLRV's led to the building of three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTV) used by Apollo astronauts at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, predecessor of the NASA Johnson Space Center. Apollo 11 astronaut, Neil Armstrong -- first human to step onto the Moon's surface -- said the mission would not have been successful without the type of simulation that resulted from the LLRV's. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the Moon's surface. Three concepts developed: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Flight Research Center (FRC) contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the FRC's LLRV became the most significant one. Hubert Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman the project manager. After conceptual planning and meetings with engineers from Bell Aerosystems, a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, NASA issued Bell a $50,000 study contract in December 1961. Bell had independently conceived a similar, free-flying simulator, and out of this study came the headquarters' endorsement of the LLRV concept, resulting in a $3.6 million production contract awarded to Bell February 1, 1963, for delivery of the first of two vehicles for flight studies at the FRC within 14 months. Built of aluminum alloy trusses and shaped like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in a gimbal, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine 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 movement. Sixteen smaller hydrogen peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. As safety backups on the LLRV, six 500-pound rockets could take over the lift function and stabilize the craft for a moment if the main jet engine failed. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. The two LLRV's were shipped from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis on vehicle No. 1. It was first readied for captured flight, on a tilt-table affair. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards. On the day of the first flight, October 30, 1964, research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds to a peak altitude of ten feet (three meters). Later flights were shared between Walker, another Center pilot named Don Mallick, the Army's Jack Kleuver, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, pilots Joseph Algranti and H.E. "Bud" Ream. NASA had accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program at the FRC by mid-1966 to give Bell a contract to deliver three LLTVs at a cost of $2.5 million each. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in January 1967, within weeks of its first flight. Modifications already made to No. 2 had given the pilot a three-axis side control stick and a more restrictive cockpit view, both features of the real Lunar Module that would later be flown by the astronauts down to the Moon's surface. When the LLRV's arrived at Houston, where research pilots would learn how to become LLTV instructor pilots, No. 2 had been flown just seven times while No. 1, the veteran, had a total of 198 flights. In December 1967, the first of the LLTV's joined the FRC's LLRV's to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. Three of the five vehicles were later destroyed in crashes at Houston - LLRV No. 1 in May 1968 and two LLTV's, in December 1968 and January 1971. The two accidents in 1968, before the first lunar landing, did not deter Apollo program managers who enthusiastically relied on the vehicles for simulation and training. Donald "Deke" Slayton, then NASA's astronaut chief, said there was no other way to simulate a Moon landing except by flying the LLTV. LLRV No. 2 was eventually returned to Dryden, where it is on display as a silent artifact of the Center's contribution to the Apollo program.
Date 01.01.1960
LLRV liftoff from ramp
Title LLRV liftoff from ramp
Description This 24-second video clip shows the LLRV pilot strapping in and flying the vehicle. The LLRV's, humorously referred to as "flying bedsteads," were created by a predecessor of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and Bell Aerosystems Company, Niagra Falls, New York, to study and analyze piloting techniques needed to fly and land the tiny Apollo Lunar Module in the Moon's airless environment. (Dryden was known simply as the NASA Flight Research Center from 1959 to 1976.) Success of the LLRV's led to the building of three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTV) used by Apollo astronauts at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, predecessor of the NASA Johnson Space Center. Apollo 11 astronaut, Neil Armstrong -- first human to step onto the Moon's surface -- said the mission would not have been successful without the type of simulation that resulted from the LLRV's. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the Moon's surface. Three concepts developed: an electronic simulator, a tethered device, and the ambitious Flight Research Center (FRC) contribution, a free-flying vehicle. All three became serious projects, but eventually the FRC's LLRV became the most significant one. Hubert Drake is credited with originating the idea, while Donald Bellman and Gene Matranga were senior engineers on the project, with Bellman the project manager. After conceptual planning and meetings with engineers from Bell Aerosystems, a company with experience in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, NASA issued Bell a $50,000 study contract in December 1961. Bell had independently conceived a similar, free-flying simulator, and out of this study came the headquarters' endorsement of the LLRV concept, resulting in a $3.6 million production contract awarded to Bell February 1, 1963, for delivery of the first of two vehicles for flight studies at the FRC within 14 months. Built of aluminum alloy trusses and shaped like a giant four-legged bedstead, the vehicle was to simulate a lunar landing profile. To do this, the LLRV had a General Electric CF-700-2V turbofan engine mounted vertically in a gimbal, with 4200 pounds of thrust. The engine 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 movement. Sixteen smaller hydrogen peroxide rockets, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw, and roll. As safety backups on the LLRV, six 500-pound rockets could take over the lift function and stabilize the craft for a moment if the main jet engine failed. The pilot had a zero-zero ejection seat that would then lift him away to safety. The two LLRV's were shipped from Bell to the FRC in April 1964, with program emphasis on vehicle No. 1. It was first, readied for captured flight on a tilt-table affair. The scene then shifted to the old South Base area of Edwards. On the day of the first flight, October 30, 1964, research pilot Joe Walker flew it three times for a total of just under 60 seconds to a peak altitude of ten feet (three meters). Later flights were shared between Walker, another Center pilot named Don Mallick, the Army's Jack Kleuver, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, pilots Joseph Algranti and H.E. "Bud" Ream. NASA had accumulated enough data from the LLRV flight program at the FRC by mid-1966 to give Bell a contract to deliver three LLTV's at a cost of $2.5 million each. In December 1966 vehicle No. 1 was shipped to Houston, followed by No. 2 in January 1967, within weeks of its first flight. Modifications already made to No. 2 had given the pilot a three-axis side control stick and a more restrictive cockpit view, both features of the real Lunar Module that would later be flown by the astronauts down to the Moon's surface. When the LLRV's arrived at Houston, where research pilots would learn how to become LLTV instructor pilots, No. 2 had been flown just seven times while No. 1, the veteran, had a total of 198 flights. In December 1967, the first of the LLTV's joined the FRC's LLRV's to eventually make up the five-vehicle training and simulator fleet. Three of the five vehicles were later destroyed in crashes at Houston - LLRV No. 1 in May 1968 and two LLTVs, in December 1968 and January 1971. The two accidents in 1968, before the first lunar landing, did not deter Apollo program managers who enthusiastically relied on the vehicles for simulation and training. Donald "Deke" Slayton, then NASA's astronaut chief, said there was no other way to simulate a Moon landing except by flying the LLTV. LLRV No. 2 was eventually returned to Dryden, where it is on display as a silent artifact of the Center's contribution to the Apollo program.
Date 01.01.1960
Astronauts Armstrong and Ald …
Title Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin study rock samples during field trip
Description Astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, and Astronaut Edwin Aldrin, Lunar module pilot for Apollo 11, study rock samples during a geological field trip to the Quitman Mountains area near the Fort Quitman ruins in far west Texas.
Date Taken 1969-02-25
Astronaut Neil Armstrong stu …
Title Astronaut Neil Armstrong studies rock samples during geological field trip
Description Astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, studies rock samples during a geological field trip to the Quitman Mountains area near the Fort Quitman ruins in far west Texas.
Date Taken 1969-02-25
Astronaut Neil Armstrong par …
Title Astronaut Neil Armstrong participates in lunar surface siumlation training
Description Suited Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit, participates in lunar surface simulation training on April 18, 1969, in bldg 9, Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). Armstrong is the prime crew commander of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Here, he simulates scooping up a lunar surface sample.
Date Taken 1969-04-18
Astronaut Neil Armstrong par …
Title Astronaut Neil Armstrong participates in lunar surface siumlation training
Description Astronaut Neil Armstrong, wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), participates in lunar surface siumlation training on April 18, 1969 in bldg 9, Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). Armstrong is prime crew commander of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Here, he is opening a sample return container. At the right is the Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) and the Lunar Module Mockup.
Date Taken 1969-04-18
Astronaut Neil Armstrong par …
Title Astronaut Neil Armstrong participates in lunar surface simulation training
Description Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), participates in lunar surface simulation training on April 18, 1969 in bldg 9, Manned Spacecraft Center. Armstrong is the prime crew commander of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Here, he is standing on Lunar Module mockup foot pad preparing to ascend steps.
Date Taken 1969-04-18
Astronaut Neil Armstrong dur …
Title Astronaut Neil Armstrong during thermovacuum training
Description Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, is photographed during thermovacuum training in Chamber B of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory, Building 32, Manned Spacecraft Center. He is wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit. The training simulated lunar surface vacuum and thermal conditions during astronaut operations outside the Lunar Module on the moon's surface. The mirror was used to reflect solar light.
Date Taken 1969-05-07
Apollo 10 and 11 crews photo …
Title Apollo 10 and 11 crews photographed during Apollo 10 debriefing
Description The prime crew of the Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission and the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission are photographed during an Apollo 10 post-flight debriefing session. Clockwise, from left foreground, are Astronauts Michael Collins, Apollo 11 command module pilot, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Apollo 11 lunar module pilot, Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 10 lunar module pilot, Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo 10 commander, Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, and John W. Young, Apollo 10 command module pilot.
Date Taken 1969-06-03
Apollo 10 and 11 crews photo …
Title Apollo 10 and 11 crews photographed during Apollo 10 debriefing
Description The prime crew of the Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission and the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission are photographed during an Apollo 10 post-flight debriefing session. Clockwise, from left foreground, are Astronauts Michael Collins, Apollo 11 command module pilot, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Apollo 11 lunar module pilot, Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 10 lunar module pilot, Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo 10 commander, Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, and John W. Young, Apollo 10 command module pilot.
Date Taken 1969-06-03
Lunar Landing Training vehic …
Title Lunar Landing Training vehicle piloted by Neil Armstrong during training
Description A Lunar Landing Training Vehicle, piloted by Astronaut Neil Armstrong, goes through a checkout flight at Ellington Air Force Base on June 16, 1969. The total duration of the lunar simulation flight was five minutes and 59 seconds. Maximum altitude attained was about 300 feet.
Date Taken 1969-06-16
Apollo 11 preflight press co …
Title Apollo 11 preflight press conference
Description The three prime crewmen of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission participate in a pre-flight press conference in the bldg 1 auditorium on July 5, 1969. Left to right, are Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, and Michael Collins, command module pilot. The box-like enclosure surrounding the three astronauts was part of elaborate precautions in effect to reduce the possibility of exposing the crewmen to infectious disease in the preflight period.
Date Taken 1969-07-05
Astronaut David Scott in Mis …
Title Astronaut David Scott in Mission Control Room during Apollo 11
Description Astronaut David R. Scott is seated at a console in the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center, bldg 30, during the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. He is watching a television monitor during the lunar surface extravehicular activity in which Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. participated. Scott is the backup crew commander for the scheduled Apollo 12 lunar landing mission.
Date Taken 1969-07-20
View of Mission Control duri …
Title View of Mission Control during lunar surface Apollo 11 EVA
Description Overall view of the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center, bldg 30, during the lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
Date Taken 1969-07-20
View of Mission Control duri …
Title View of Mission Control during lunar surface Apollo 11 EVA
Description Overall view of the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center, bldg 30, during the lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The television monitor shows Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin on the surface of the moon.
Date Taken 1969-07-20
View of Mission Control duri …
Title View of Mission Control during lunar surface Apollo 11 EVA
Description Overall view of the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center, bldg 30, during the lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The television monitor shows Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin on the surface of the moon.
Date Taken 1969-07-20
First direct exposure to lun …
Title First direct exposure to lunar material for Crew Reception personnel
Description The first direct exposure to lunar material for Crew Reception personnel probably happened late Friday, July 25, 1969. Terry Slezak (displaying moon dust on his left hand fingers), Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) photographic technician, was removing film magazines from the first of two containers when the incident occurred. As he removed the plastic seal from Magazine S, one of the 70mm magazines taken during Apollo 11 Extravehicular Activity (EVA), it was apparent that the exterior of the cassette displayed traces of a black powdery substance. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong reported during the mission that he had retrieved a 70mm cassette which had dropped to the lunar surface.
Date Taken 1969-07-25
Apollo 11 crewmen during fir …
Title Apollo 11 crewmen during first postflight debriefing
Description The crewmen of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission go through their postflight debriefing session on Sunday, July 27, 1969. Left to right, are Astronauts Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, Michael Collins, command module pilot, and Neil A. Armstrong, commander. They are seated in the debriefing room of the Crew Reception Area of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center.
Date Taken 1969-07-27
Mobile Quarantine Facility u …
Title Mobile Quarantine Facility unloaded at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas
Description The Apollo 11 crewmen, still under a 21-day quarantine, are greeted by their wives as they arrive at Ellington Air Force Base after a flight aboard a U.S. Air Force C141 transport from Hawaii. Looking through the window of the Mobile Quarantine Facility are (left to right) Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins. The wives are (left to right) Mrs. Pat Collins, Mrs. Jan Armstrong, and Mrs. Jean Aldrin.
Date Taken 1969-07-27
Mobile Quarantine Facility u …
Title Mobile Quarantine Facility unloaded at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas
Description A Mobile Quarantine Facility, with the three Apollo 11 crewmen inside, is unloaded from a U.S. Air Force C141 transport at Ellington Air Force Base early Sunday after a flight from Hawaii. A large crowd was present to welcome Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin Jr. back to Houston following their historic lunar landing mission.
Date Taken 1969-07-27
Mobile Quarantine Facility u …
Title Mobile Quarantine Facility unloaded at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas
Description A Mobile Quarantine Facility, with the three Apollo 11 crewmen inside, is unloaded from a U.S. Air Force C141 transport at Ellington Air Force Base early Sunday after a flight from Hawaii. A large crowd was present to welcome Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin Jr. back to Houston following their historic lunar landing mission.
Date Taken 1969-07-27
Apollo 11 crewmen dining in …
Title Apollo 11 crewmen dining in Crew Reception area of Lunar Receiving Lab
Description The crewmen of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission are seen dining in the Crew Reception Area of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, bldg 37, Manned Spacecraft Center. Left to right, are Astronauts Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Michael Collins, and Neil A. Armstrong. They are continuing their postflight debriefings. The three astronauts will be released from quarantine on August 11, 1969.
Date Taken 1969-07-30
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