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http://scitech.quickfound.net/
"After the
Lunar Lander Research Facility was no longer needed for astronaut training, it became the
Impact Dynamics Research Facility. This film shows how the facility was modified and used to test the durability of aircraft composites in a crash scenario.
Various film angles show a model airplane crashing into the concrete surface and the results of the impact
... NASA Langley catalog #L-1252."
Silent.
also see:
Crash Tests of
High Wing Single Engine Airplanes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi7kF2RkN5c
Public domain film from
NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/
3.0/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Landing_Research_Facility
The
Lunar Landing Research Facility was an area at NASA's
Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Virginia to simulate
Apollo Moon landings with a mock
Lunar Module powered by a small rocket motor suspended from a crane over a simulated lunar landscape...
Re-designated the Impact Dynamics Research Facility (
IDRF) in
1974, the site was used for research on aircraft crashes until
2003...
http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/1297
...
History
When
President John F. Kennedy confidently predicted in
1961 that the
United States would land a man on the
Moon by the end of the decade, the task of implementing what seemed to be a wildly ambitious goal fell to the engineers of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The success of the chosen lunar-orbit rendezvous (
LOR) strategy ultimately depended on whether the astronauts could learn to safely land the
Lunar Excursion Module (
LEM) on the Moon's surface and return into orbit to dock with the mother ship... The solution was conceived as an erector set model in the home workshop of W. Hewitt
Phillips (see autobiography of W. Hewitt Phillips). The solution came in the form of the Lunar Lander Research Facility (LLRF), a training simulator that allowed NASA engineers to study the complex lunar landing process and give the Apollo astronauts critical hands-on pilot training in the LEM. Completed in
1965 at a cost of $
3.5 million, the most obvious feature of the LLRF was its enormous gantry, an A-frame steel structure measuring 400 feet long by 240 feet high. The LLRF simulated lunar gravity on the LEM through an overhead partial-suspension system that counteracted all but 1/6th of the
Earth's gravitational force, and allowed the vehicle to fly unobstructed within a relatively large area. The LLRF also was used as a lunar-walking simulator, with subjects walking on inclined planes while suspended by a system of slings and cables.
Until the end of the
Apollo program in
1972, the LLRF was used to train 24 astronauts for lunar missions, including
Neil Armstrong and
Edwin E. "
Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., of
Apollo 11, the first men to walk on the
Moon. Armstrong offered what was perhaps the greatest tribute to the importance of the LLRF in the success of the Apollo program. When asked what it was like to land on the Moon, he replied: "Like
Langley..."
Although the end of manned lunar missions made the LLRF redundant by the early
1970s, NASA quickly found a new use for this Langley landmark, converting it into a full-scale aircraft crash test facility. Redesignated the Impact Dynamics Research Facility (IDRF), it was used to conduct important research on aircraft and other vehicles between 1974 and 2003. With no foreseen future mission need for the IDRF and with limited funding for maintenance and upkeep of such a large structure, NASA closed the facility in 2003 and it was placed on the list of buildings and structures planned for demolition at LaRC. As luck would have it, with
President Bush's announcement in 2004 of the
Vision for Space Exploration, NASA determined that the IDRF could be adaptively re-used to support the
Agency's new
Constellation Program.
The facility was re-opened in
2005 to conduct landing tests associated with the development of the
Crew Exploration Vehicle (
CEV) named
ORION. Ironically, the testing would be remarkably similar to the original purpose of the LLRF -- testing of the LEM. The facility was re-named the
Landing Impact Research Facility (LandIR) and minor modifications were made to include installation of a new parallel winch system to support full-scale ORION testing, and replacement of an elevator. Since NASA needed the capability to determine if the ORION landing would be via land or water, a more significant modification involved installation of a new hydro-impact basin (splashdown pool) underneath the Gantry. Construction of the hydro-impact basin, which is 115 feet long, 90 feet wide and 20 feet deep, was completed in
January 2011...
- published: 07 Mar 2015
- views: 1220