Apollo and America's Moon Landing Program: Unconventional, Contrary, and Ugly: The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (NASA SP-2004-4535) - Design and Development, LLTV, Armstrong

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Physics, Astronomy, History, Americas
Cover of the book Apollo and America's Moon Landing Program: Unconventional, Contrary, and Ugly: The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (NASA SP-2004-4535) - Design and Development, LLTV, Armstrong by Progressive Management, Progressive Management
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Progressive Management ISBN: 9781465991911
Publisher: Progressive Management Publication: December 10, 2011
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Progressive Management
ISBN: 9781465991911
Publisher: Progressive Management
Publication: December 10, 2011
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

This official NASA history document - converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - is the complete story of the important training vehicle for the Apollo moon landings, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) and the later version, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV). In the foreword, Neil Armstrong writes:

"Unconventional, Contrary, & Ugly: The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle tells the complete story of this remarkable machine, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, including its difficulties, its successes, and its substantial contribution to the Apollo program. The authors are engineers who were at the heart of the effort. They tell the tale that they alone know and can describe. Six crews landed their Lunar Modules on the moon. They landed on the dusty sands of the Sea of Tranquility and the Ocean of Storms. They landed in the lunar highlands at Fra Mauro and on the Cayley Plains. They landed near the Apennine and Taurus Mountains. Each landing, in widely different topography, was performed safely under the manual piloting of the flight commander. During no flight did pilots come close to sticking a landing pad in a crater or tipping the craft over. That success is due, in no small measure, to the experience and confidence gained in the defining research studies and in the pilot experience and training provided by the LLRV and LLTV. Someday men will return to the moon. When they do, they are quite likely to need the knowledge, the techniques, and the machine described in this volume."

When the United States began considering a piloted voyage to the moon, an enormous number of unknowns about strategies, techniques, and equipment existed. Some people began wondering how a landing maneuver might be performed on the lunar surface.

From the beginning of the age of flight, landing has been among the most challenging of flight maneuvers. Touching down smoothly has been the aim of pilots throughout the first century of flight. Designers have sought the optimum aircraft configuration for landing. Engineers have sought the optimum sensors and instruments for best providing the pilot with the information needed to perform the maneuver efficiently and safely. Pilots also have sought the optimum trajectory and control techniques to complete the approach and touchdown reliably and repeatably.

Landing a craft on the moon was, in a number of ways, quite different from landing on Earth. The lunar gravitational field is much weaker than Earth's. There were no runways, lights, radio beacons, or navigational aids of any kind. The moon had no atmosphere. Airplane wings or helicopter rotors would not support the craft. The type of controls used conventionally on Earth-based aircraft could not be used. The lack of an atmosphere also meant that conventional flying instrumentation reflecting airspeed and altitude, and rate of climb and descent, would be useless because it relied on static and dynamic air pressure to measure changes, something lacking on the moon's surface.

Lift could be provided by a rocket engine, and small rocket engines could be arranged to control the attitude of the craft. But what trajectories should be selected? What type of steering, speed, and rate-of-descent controls should be provided? What kind of sensors could be used? What kind of instruments would provide helpful information to the pilot? Should the landing be performed horizontally on wheels or skids, or vertically? How accurately would the craft need to be positioned for landing? What visibility would the pilot need, and how could it be provided?

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This official NASA history document - converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - is the complete story of the important training vehicle for the Apollo moon landings, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) and the later version, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV). In the foreword, Neil Armstrong writes:

"Unconventional, Contrary, & Ugly: The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle tells the complete story of this remarkable machine, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, including its difficulties, its successes, and its substantial contribution to the Apollo program. The authors are engineers who were at the heart of the effort. They tell the tale that they alone know and can describe. Six crews landed their Lunar Modules on the moon. They landed on the dusty sands of the Sea of Tranquility and the Ocean of Storms. They landed in the lunar highlands at Fra Mauro and on the Cayley Plains. They landed near the Apennine and Taurus Mountains. Each landing, in widely different topography, was performed safely under the manual piloting of the flight commander. During no flight did pilots come close to sticking a landing pad in a crater or tipping the craft over. That success is due, in no small measure, to the experience and confidence gained in the defining research studies and in the pilot experience and training provided by the LLRV and LLTV. Someday men will return to the moon. When they do, they are quite likely to need the knowledge, the techniques, and the machine described in this volume."

When the United States began considering a piloted voyage to the moon, an enormous number of unknowns about strategies, techniques, and equipment existed. Some people began wondering how a landing maneuver might be performed on the lunar surface.

From the beginning of the age of flight, landing has been among the most challenging of flight maneuvers. Touching down smoothly has been the aim of pilots throughout the first century of flight. Designers have sought the optimum aircraft configuration for landing. Engineers have sought the optimum sensors and instruments for best providing the pilot with the information needed to perform the maneuver efficiently and safely. Pilots also have sought the optimum trajectory and control techniques to complete the approach and touchdown reliably and repeatably.

Landing a craft on the moon was, in a number of ways, quite different from landing on Earth. The lunar gravitational field is much weaker than Earth's. There were no runways, lights, radio beacons, or navigational aids of any kind. The moon had no atmosphere. Airplane wings or helicopter rotors would not support the craft. The type of controls used conventionally on Earth-based aircraft could not be used. The lack of an atmosphere also meant that conventional flying instrumentation reflecting airspeed and altitude, and rate of climb and descent, would be useless because it relied on static and dynamic air pressure to measure changes, something lacking on the moon's surface.

Lift could be provided by a rocket engine, and small rocket engines could be arranged to control the attitude of the craft. But what trajectories should be selected? What type of steering, speed, and rate-of-descent controls should be provided? What kind of sensors could be used? What kind of instruments would provide helpful information to the pilot? Should the landing be performed horizontally on wheels or skids, or vertically? How accurately would the craft need to be positioned for landing? What visibility would the pilot need, and how could it be provided?

More books from Progressive Management

Cover of the book Ukraine in Perspective: Orientation Guide and Cultural Orientation: Geography, History, Economy, Society, Security, Religion, Traditions, Urban and Rural Life, Crimea, Ethnic Groups, Military by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Cyber Warfare: Jus Post Bellum - Problem of Cyber Attack Accountability, International Treaties for Post-Conflict Period, Comparison to Traditional Warfare, 1998 Kosovo and 2003 Iraq Wars, North Korea by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Rise of Air Mobility and Its Generals: Airlift, Air Refueling, and Aeromedical-Evacuation Missions, Mahan and the Purpose of Airpower, Geopolitical Changes, Support of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Climate Change and Global Warming: National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan For The U.S. Global Change Research Program, Carbon Dioxide, Sea Levels, Ecosystems, Models by Progressive Management
Cover of the book NASA Report: Sleep on Earth and in Space: Risk Factors, Health and Performance Outcomes, and Countermeasures - Workshop on Lessons Learned from ISS Space Station and Shuttle Human Flights by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Village Stability Operations (VSO) in Afghanistan: Comparing Past Counterinsurgencies for Future Applications - Special Operations COIN, Philippine War, Malayan Emergency, Taliban, Karzai by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Encyclopedia of NASA Lessons Learned (Part 1): Thousands of Aerospace Technology Engineering Reports, Problems, Accidents, Mishaps, Ideas and Solutions - Space Shuttle, Spacecraft, Rockets, Aircraft by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Generals of the Ardennes: American Leadership in the Battle of the Bulge - World War II Malmedy Massacre, 7th Armored, Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Bastogne, Heroes and Victims, Defense of St. Vith by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Tactical Airlift: The United States Air Force (USAF) in Southeast Asia - Vietnam War, French War in Indochina, Air Commando, Special Forces, Khe Sanh, Tet, Air Force Caribous, Laos, Withdrawal by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident: The Tragedy of Mission 51-L in 1986 - Volume 5 Hearings Part One by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Hubble Space Telescope Systems Engineering Case Study: Technical Information and Program History of NASA's Famous HST Telescope by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Materials Genome Initiative: Developing Advanced and Next-Generation Materials, Computational Tools, Experimental Tools, Digital Data, Substitutes for Critical Minerals by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Atlas and Titan Space Operations at the Cape, 1993: 2006 - Atlas V and Titan IV, Complex 41, EELV Program by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Blending Science and Art: Cold War Lessons for Strategy Development in Postmodern War - Chaoplexic Warfare, Paradigms, Perceptions and Interpretation of Information (PPI), Rational Actor Model (RAM) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Pushing the Horizon: Seventy-Five Years of High Stakes Science and Technology at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) - Thomas Edison, V-2, Vanguard, Operation Crossroads, Cold War Nuclear Secrets by Progressive Management
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy