Crash Tests of High-Wing Single Engine Airplanes circa 1981 NASA Langley Research Center

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“Test conducted at NASA Langley Research Center’s Impact Dynamics Research facility which was known before as the Lunar Landing Research Facility. Multiple planes were dropped to get an estimate about the crash’s effects on the body of the airplane… NASA Langley catalog #L-1265.” Silent.

Public domain film from NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.

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…

…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. Although the Constellation Program has since been cancelled by President Obama, the LandIR plans to continue performing impact testing since the ORION capsule will still be used to service the International Space Station.

The historical significance of the LLRF and its many contributions to the U.S. space program were formally recognized when the facility was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985…