Browse All : Images by Neil A. Armstrong of Langley Research Center (LaRC)

Neil Armstrong

Title	Neil Armstrong
Full Description	Neil Armstrong at the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF).
Date	2/12/1969
NASA Center	Langley Research Center

Chase plane view of F-8 DFBW …

F-8 DFBW pilot-induced oscil …

Lunar Landing Research Facil …

Title	Lunar Landing Research Facility At Night
Description	A reproduction of a portion of the lunar surface was constructed on the concrete pad where the Lunar Excursion Module Simulator (LEMS) was tested at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The LEMS was a manned rocket-powered vehicle used to familiarize the Apollo astronaut with the handling characteristics of a lunar-landing type vehicle. The vehicle was designed and fabricated at Langley. On July 20,1969, as the Eagle was landing on the Moon, Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong reported, I see my shadow, exactly as he had during the Langley tests. Armstrong returned to Langley following his historic flight and piloted the lunar module once more. He verified that it was a very valid simulation of the actual experience. The LEMS, designated a national historic landmark in 1986, is on display in the Virginia Air and Space Center/Hampton Roads History Center.
Date	06.20.1969

APOLLO 11: 'One Small Step.. …

Title	APOLLO 11: 'One Small Step...'
Description	Neil Armstrong stands on the bottom rung of the ladder leading from the Lunar Module to the lunar surface and describes what he sees, before taking the first step and delivering those famous lines.
Date	04.19.1999

APOLLO 11: Landing the Eagle …

Title	APOLLO 11: Landing the Eagle - The Final Approach
Description	APOLLO 11: Landing the Eagle - The Final Approach. The dramatic final 60 seconds before touchdown. From the film documentary "APOLLO 11:'The Eagle Has Landed'", part of a documentary series on the APOLLO missions made in the early '70's and narrated by Burgess Meredith. APOLLO 11: First manned lunar landing and return to Earth with Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin. Landed in the Sea of Tranquilityon July 20, 1969, deployed TV camera and EASEP experiments, performed lunar surface EVA, returned lunar soil samples. Mission Duration 195 hrs 18 min 35sec
Date	01.23.1974

APOLLO 11: Lunar Module Sepa …

Title	APOLLO 11: Lunar Module Separates for descent
Description	Separation of the Lunar module for descent to the Lunar surface From the film documentary "APOLLO 11:'The eagle Has Landed'", part of a documentary series on the APOLLO missions made in the early '70's and narrated by Burgess Meredith. APOLLO 11: First manned lunar landing and return to Earth with Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin. Landed in the Sea of Tranquilityon July 20, 1969, deployed TV camera and EASEP experiments, performed lunar surface EVA, returned lunar soil samples. Mission Duration 195 hrs 18 min 35sec
Date	01.23.1974

APOLLO 11: The heroes Return

Title	APOLLO 11: The heroes Return
Description	The crew of APOLLO 11 return as heroes after their succesfull landing on the lunar surface. From the film documentary "APOLLO 11:'The Eagle Has Landed'", part of a documentary series on the APOLLO missions made in the early '70's and narrated by Burgess Meredith. APOLLO 11: First manned lunar landing and return to Earth with Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin. Landed in the Sea of Tranquilityon July 20, 1969, deployed TV camera and EASEP experiments, performed lunar surface EVA, returned lunar soil samples. Mission Duration 195 hrs 18 min 35sec
Date	01.23.1974

Multiple Exposure Highlights …

Title	Multiple Exposure Highlights Lems Training
Description	During a nighttime training session, a multiple exposure captures the movement of the Lunar Excursion Module Simulator (LEMS). The LEMS was a manned rocket-powered vehicle used to familiarize the Apollo astronauts with the handling characteristics of a lunar-landing type vehicle. The Apollo program is best known for astronaut Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon July 20, 1969. In its earlier test period, the LEMS featured a helicopter crew cabin atop the lunar landing module. Later, the helicopter crew cabin was replaced with a stand-up rectangular cabin which was more efficient for controlling maneuvers and for better viewing by the pilot. The vehicle was designed and fabricated at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Langley also constructed the Lunar Landing Research Facility, a unique and imposing erector-set structure which provided the capability to perform simulated lunar landings with the LEMS. The LEMS, designated a national historic landmark in 1986, will be displayed in the new Virginia Air and Space Center/Hampton Roads History Center, scheduled to open Spring 1992.
Date	04.11.1967

Astronaut on the Moon

Title	Astronaut on the Moon
Description	89-3408: On July 20, 1969, more than a billion people watched Neil Armstrong take humankind's first tentative steps upon another world. (Man in photo is actually Edwin Aldrin). Photograph and caption published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication (page 99), by James Schultz.
Date	03.17.1989

Neil Armstrong

Title	Neil Armstrong
Description	Neil Armstrong at Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF).
Date	02.12.1969

Neil Armstrong At Lunar Land …

Title	Neil Armstrong At Lunar Landing Research Facility
Description	Nearly 25 years ago, on July 20,1969, Neil Armstrong, shown here with NASA Langley Research Centers Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) Simulator, became the first human to walk on the moon after practicing with the simulator in May of 1969. Training with the simulator, part of Langleys Lunar Research Facility, allowed the Apollo astronauts to study and safely overcome problems that could have occurred during the final 150-foot descent to the surface of the moon. NASA needed such a facility in order to explore and develop techniques for landing the LEM on the moons surface, where gravity is only one-sixth as strong as on the Earth, as well as to determine the limits of human piloting capabilities in the new surroundings. This unique facility, completed in 1965 and now a National Historic Landmark, effectively canceled all but one-sixth of Earths gravitational force by using an overhead cable system.
Date	02.12.1969

Neil Armstrong At The Lunar …

Title	Neil Armstrong At The Lunar Landing Research Facility
Description	Neil Armstrong during training at the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF).
Date	01.28.1970

P-51 Mustang on Lakebed

Title	P-51 Mustang on Lakebed
Description	This photograph shows a NACA research pilot running up the engine of the F-51 Mustang on the taxiway adjacent to Rogers Dry Lake at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in 1955. A P-51 Mustang, redesignated an F-51 Mustang, was transferred from the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory to the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (now the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California, in 1950. The P-51 Mustang was the first aircraft to employ the NACA laminar-flow airfoil design and could dive to around Mach number 0.8. As an F-51, it was used as a proficiency aircraft at the High Speed Flight Station. A North American P-51Mustang (the P meaning pursuit), redesignated as an F-51 Mustang (with the F standing for fighter), was transferred to the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS), Edwards, California, from the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, Virginia, in 1950. This aircraft had been used in wing-flow research at Langley prior to its transfer. The NACA was the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The HSFRS was a predecessor of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, and Langley Aeronautical Laboratory became NASA's Langley Research Center. The P-51 was the first aircraft to employ the NACA laminar-flow airfoil design and could dive to a speed of roughly Mach 0.8. As an F-51 Fighter, instead of a P-51 pursuit aircraft, the aircraft was used as a proficiency aircraft at HSFRS. Records show that the aircraft was also used as a chase and support aircraft 395 times. Neil Armstrong was among the pilots using it to chase some of the X-planes (that is, provide safety support). The P-51 was retired in 1959 as the result of a taxiing mishap.
Date	01.01.1955

Paraglider - test of Paresev …

Title	Paraglider - test of Paresev I-A Rogallo
Description	Test of Paresev I-A Rogallo research vehicle in the Full Scale wind tunnel. Richard P. Hallion wrote: "The best way to acquire ... experience, of course, was by building and flying a Parawing. Two who actively favored such an approach were center research pilots Neil Armstrong and Milt Thompson. they approached Paul Bikle, who liked the idea, but recognized that both pilots had heavy Dyna-Soar commitments, FRC could not spare their services elsewhere, even to a project as interesting as the proposed Parawing. Instead, Bikle called in a group of center engineers under the direction of Charles Richards, a team composed of Richard Klein, Vic Horton, Gary Layton, and Joe Wilson. Bilke's instructions were characteristically short and to the point: build a single-seat Paraglider and do it quick and cheap.' All this took place just before Christmas 1961. The team, now totaling nine engineers and technicians, set to work on this Paraglider Research Vehicle,' conveniently abbreviated Paresev. Seven weeks later, after expending $4280 on construction and materials, the team rolled out the Paresev I. It resembled a grown-up tricycle, with a rudimentary seat, an angled tripod mast, and perched on top of the mast, a 14-square-meter Rogallo-type parawing. The vehicle weighed 272 kilograms, had a height of over 3.4 meters, and a length of 4.5 meters. The pilot sat out in the open, strapped in the seat, with no enclosure of any kind. He controlled the descent rate by tilting the wing fore and aft, and turned by tilting the wing from side to side. NASA registered the Paresev, the first NASA research airplane to be constructed totally *in-house,' with the Federal Aviation Administration on 12 February 1962. Flight testing started immediately." Published in James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo, NASA SP-4308, pp. 380-387, Richard P. Hallion, On the Frontier: Flight Research at Dryden, 1946-1981, NASA SP-4303, pp. 138-139.
Date	08.19.1964

F-8 DFBW simulating STS cont …

Title	F-8 DFBW simulating STS contro l system - Pilot-induced oscillation (PIO) on landing
Description	From 1972 to 1985 the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center conducted flight research with an F-8C employing the first digital fly-by-wire flight control system without a mechanical back up. The decision to replace all mechanical control linkages to rudder, ailerons, and other flight control surfaces was made for two reasons. First, it forced the research engineers to focus on the technology and issues that were truly critical for a production fly-by-wire aircraft. Secondly, it would give industry the confidence it needed to apply the technology--confidence it would not have had if the experimental system relied on a mechanical back up. In the first few decades of flight, pilots had controlled aircraft through direct force--moving control sticks and rudder pedals linked to cables and pushrods that pivoted control surfaces on the wings and tails. As engine power and speeds increased, more force was needed and hydraulically boosted controls emerged. Soon, all high-performance and large aircraft had hydraulic-mechanical flight-control systems. These conventional flight control systems restricted designers in the configuration and design of aircraft because of the need for flight stability. As the electronic era grew in the 1960s, so did the idea of aircraft with electronic flight-control systems. Wires replacing mechanical devices would give designers greater flexibility in configuration and in the size and placement of components such as tail surfaces and wings. A fly-by-wire system also would be smaller, more reliable, and in military aircraft, much less vulnerable to battle damage. A fly-by-wire aircraft would also be much more responsive to pilot control inputs. The result would be more efficient, safer aircraft with improved performance and design. The Aircraft By the late 1960s, engineers at Dryden began discussing how to modify an aircraft and create a fly-by-wire testbed. Support for the concept at NASA Headquarters came from Neil Armstrong, former research pilot at Dryden. He served in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology following his historic Apollo 11 lunar landing and knew electronic control systems from his days training in and operating the lunar module. Armstrong supported the proposed Dryden project and backed the transfer of an F-8C Crusader from the U.S. Navy to NASA to become the Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) research aircraft. It was given the tail number "NASA 802." Wires from the control stick in the cockpit to the control surfaces on the wings and tail surfaces replaced the entire mechanical flight-control system in the F-8. The heart of the system was an off-the-shelf backup Apollo digital flight-control computer and inertial sensing unit, which transmitted pilot inputs to the actuators on the control surfaces. On May 25, 1972, the highly modified F-8 became the first aircraft to fly completely dependent upon an electronic flight-control system without any mechanical backup. The pilot was Gary Krier. The first phase of, the DFBW program validated the fly-by-wire concept and quickly showed that a refined system, especially in large aircraft, would greatly enhance flying qualities by sensing motion changes and applying pilot inputs instantaneously. The Phase 1 system had a backup analog fly-by-wire system in the event of a failure in the Apollo computer unit, but it was never necessary to use the system in flight. In a joint program carried out with the Langley Research Center in the second phase of research, the original Apollo system was replaced with a triply redundant digital system. It would provide backup computer capabilities if a failure occurred. The DFBW program lasted 13 years. The final research flight, the 210th of the program, was made April 2, 1985, with Dryden Research Pilot Ed Schneider at the controls. Research Benefits The F-8 DFBW validated the principal concepts of the all-electric flight control systems now used in a variety of airplanes ranging from the F/A-18 to the Boeing 777 and the space shuttles. A DFBW flight control system also is used on the space shuttles. NASA 802 was the testbed for the sidestick-controller used in the F-16 fighter, the second U.S. high performance aircraft with a DFBW system. In addition to pioneering the space shuttle's fly-by-wire flight-control system, NASA 802 was the testbed that explored Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO) and validated methods to suppress them. PIOs occur when a pilot over-controls an aircraft and a sustained oscillation results. On the last of five free flights of the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise during approach and landing tests in l977, a PIO developed as the vehicle settled onto the runway. The problem was duplicated with the F-8 DFBW and a series of PIO suppression filters was developed and tested on the aircraft for the shuttle program office. DFBW research carried out with NASA 802 at Dryden is now considered one of the most significant and successful aeronautical programs in NASA history. In this clip we see NASA research pilot John Manke at the controls of Dryden's F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire aircraft as it enters a severe pilot induced oscillation or PIO just after completion of a touch-and-go landing while testing for a signal-delay-related problem that occurred during an approach to landing on the shuttle prototype Enterprise.
Date	04.18.1978

Gemini

Title	Gemini
Description	Astronaut Neil Armstrong (left) was one of 14 astronauts, 8 NASA test pilots, and 2 McDonnell test pilots who took part in simulator studies. Armstrong was the first astronaut to participate (November 6, 1963). A.W. Vogeley described the simulator in his paper "Discussion of Existing and Planned Simulators For Space Research,""Many of the astronauts have flown this simulator in support of the Gemini studies and they, without exception, appreciated the realism of the visual scene. The simulator has also been used in the development of pilot techniques to handle certain jet malfunctions in order that aborts could be avoided. In these situations large attitude changes are sometimes necessary and the false motion cues that were generated due to earth gravity were somewhat objectionable, however, the pilots were readily able to overlook these false motion cues in favor of the visual realism." Roy F. Brissenden, noted in his paper "Initial Operations with Langley's Rendezvous Docking Facility,""The basic Gemini control studies developed the necessary techniques and demonstrated the ability of human pilots to perform final space docking with the specified Gemini-Agena systems using only visual references. ... Results... showed that trained astronauts can effect the docking with direct acceleration control and even with jet malfunctions as long as good visual conditions exist.... Probably more important than data results was the early confidence that the astronauts themselves gained in their ability to perform the maneuver in the ultimate flight mission." Francis B. Smith, noted in his paper "Simulators for Manned Space Research,""Some major areas of interest in these flights were fuel requirements, docking accuracies, the development of visual aids to assist alignment of the vehicles, and investigation of alternate control techniques with partial failure modes. However, the familiarization and confidence developed by the astronaut through flying and safely docking the simulator during these tests was one of the major contributions. For example, it was found that fuel used in docking from 200 feet typically dropped from about 20 pounds to 7 pounds after an astronaut had made a few training flights.
Date	11.01.1963

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Browse All : Images by Neil A. Armstrong of Langley Research Center (LaRC)