User:JustinTime55/sandbox/Lunar Test Article
 | This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
A Lunar Test Article, Lunar Module Test Article, or LEM Test Article (LTA), was one of several non-flight versions of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) built by Grumman Aircraft, used for various testing and astronaut training purposes. Ten LTAs were planned, and seven were actually built and used. These ranged in complexity from what were essentially boilerplate LMs used as ballast in Saturn V flights, to LTA-8, a full-up replica of the LM used for a 1968 environmental system test conducted by a two-astronaut crew in a vacuum chamber in NASA's Space Environment Simulation Laboratory in Houston. Some were repurposed for different tests.
"Six lunar test articles LTAs formed the backbone of the ground test program. Bethpage shipped LTA-2 to Huntsville for vibration testing to see if it could withstand launch pressures, and LTA-10 to Tulsa, to check its fit in the adapter. LTA-1 was a "house" spacecraft, used to iron out problems during fabrication, assembly, and checkout. Three more LTAs were under construction: LTA-8 for thermal-vacuum testing in Houston and LTAs 3 and 5 for combined structural shakings, vibrations, and engine firings.[1]
In July, Houston directed Bethpage to delete LTA-4, a vibration test article, and two flight test articles (FTAs). To replace the FTAs, two LTAs would be refurbished when they finished ground tests. After trials with scale and full-sized models had been run at Langley and elsewhere, Houston also canceled a landing gear test model as an unnecessary expense."[2][3]
Test articles[edit]
| Name | Description | Use |
|---|---|---|
| LTA-1 | House spacecraft | Demo mock-up |
| LTA-2(R) | Vibration test article, 26,000 pounds (12,000 kg) | Vibration tests at Huntsfille; flown on Apollo 6 |
| LTA-3 | Structural and engine tests | |
| LTA-4 | Vibration test | Deleted |
| LTA-5 | Structural and engine tests | |
| LTA-6 | ||
| LTA-7 | ||
| LTA-8 | Environmental test | Vacuum chamber test at SESL crewed by astronaut James Irwin and Grumman pilot Gerry Gibbons |
| LTA-9 | ||
| LTA-10(R) | Flight test article, 29,500 pounds (13,400 kg) | Spacecraft adapter fit checks at Tulsa, OK; flown on Apollo 4 |
| LTA-B | Structural test article, 19,900 pounds (9,000 kg) | Flown on Apollo 8 |
- ^ Calvin H. Perrine to Asst. Mgr., ASPO, "LEM Structural dynamic analysis and test program," 21 Sept. 1965, with encs.; MSC, "Presentation to the Subcommittee," p. 15.
- ^ Perrine memo, "Trip to GAEC, May 13 and 14, 1965." 17 May 1965; Shea, Weekly Activity Report, 6-12 June 1965; Young to Grumman, Attn.: Mullaney, "Requirements for GAEC substitute hardware on Saturn Apollo Missions 501 and 502," 9 July 1965; Grumman Report no. 31, LPR-10-47, 10 Sept. 1965, p. 1; Perrine memo, 21 Sept. 1965; James L. Neal to Grumman, Attn.: John C. Snedeker, "Substitute hardware on Saturn Apollo Mission 501 and 502 (Action Item L-17)," 18 Oct. 1965; Shea to NASA Hq., Attn.: Phillips, "Deletion of TM-5 from LEM Ground Test Program," 23 Dec. 1965.
- ^ Chariots For Apollo, ch. 7.4,"The LEM Test Program: A Pacing Item"