The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle ( LLRV ) had a jet engine hung vertically in the middle of the frame, fixed inside two gimbals, permitting the vehicle to rotate itself as much as 40 degrees in any direction while the jet remained vertically aligned. A sequence of hydrogen peroxide thrusters, eight around the frame's center and four at each corner, provided lunar simulation thrust that the pilot controlled.
Three analog computers took information on side forces and vehicle weight and created just enough jet thrust so that, in lunar simulation, the LLRV descended as though in lunar gravity. Any gusts of wind were cancelled when the computers sensed them and fired thrusters automatically to cancel the wind. There was no mechanical links between the pilot and the engine or thrusters: everything was sent to the computers that, in turn, commanded the thrust desired.
During flight tests, a pilot directed the LLRV to climb about 300 feet, initiated lunar simulation mode, and completed within eight minutes to a safe descent. Research flying over the next two-and-half years had yielded a configuration suitable for astronaut training, and Bell subsequently built three similar craft--Lunar Landing Training Vehicles--that were sent to the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, now to the Johnson Space Center. One of the LLRV 's at the Flight Research Center was also sent for training in Houston.
Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong recalled later that his landing on the moon on July 20, 1969 was a well-known task because of the LLRV 's accuracy.
Partially restored by a movie company in the late 1990s, one of the two original Lunar Landing Research Vehicles remains on sheltered displays today at NASA Dryden.
For further more information please visit NASA Satellites.
Three analog computers took information on side forces and vehicle weight and created just enough jet thrust so that, in lunar simulation, the LLRV descended as though in lunar gravity. Any gusts of wind were cancelled when the computers sensed them and fired thrusters automatically to cancel the wind. There was no mechanical links between the pilot and the engine or thrusters: everything was sent to the computers that, in turn, commanded the thrust desired.
During flight tests, a pilot directed the LLRV to climb about 300 feet, initiated lunar simulation mode, and completed within eight minutes to a safe descent. Research flying over the next two-and-half years had yielded a configuration suitable for astronaut training, and Bell subsequently built three similar craft--Lunar Landing Training Vehicles--that were sent to the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, now to the Johnson Space Center. One of the LLRV 's at the Flight Research Center was also sent for training in Houston.
Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong recalled later that his landing on the moon on July 20, 1969 was a well-known task because of the LLRV 's accuracy.
Partially restored by a movie company in the late 1990s, one of the two original Lunar Landing Research Vehicles remains on sheltered displays today at NASA Dryden.
For further more information please visit NASA Satellites.
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