Science Art: Armstrong Through the Years – LLRV-3 by NASA Graphics/Kirstin Sharrer

24 July 2023 grant Featured, Science Art 0

Scientific Illustration of a Lunar Landing Research Vehicle in mid-flight. It's a NASA hovercraft, basically.
Scientific Illustration of a Lunar Landing Research Vehicle in mid-flight. It's a NASA hovercraft, basically.

The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle-3 was an experimental Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicle – a fancy hovercraft – that the Apollo astronauts used to practice the lunar landing.

This is part of a NASA collection called “Armstrong Through the Years,” so although it’s not captioned, I have to assume this is a picture of Neil Armstrong in flight. Wikipedia also has a photo of what happened to LLRV-1. Armstrong is using a parachute in that one….

Both Armstrong and Deke Slayton said this was the only way to learn how to successfully pilot a lunar lander. It could only stay aloft for 10 minutes at a time, and its flight characteristics earned it the nickname “The Flying Bedstead.”