#TBT Practicing landing on the Moon 🌜⁣ ⁣ All Apollo Moon landing mission commanders and their backups completed their lunar landing certifications using the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV).⁣ ⁣ The open-framed LLRV used a downward pointing turbofan engine to counteract five-sixths of the vehicle’s weight to simulate lunar gravity. Two rockets provided thrust for the descent and horizontal translation, and 16 LM-like thrusters provided three-axis attitude control. Thus, the astronauts were able to simulate maneuvering and landing on the lunar surface while still on Earth. The LLRV pilot could use an aircraft-style ejection seat to escape from the vehicle in case of loss of control.⁣ ⁣ Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong completed the first astronaut flights aboard LLRV-1 on Mar. 23, 1967, and flew 21 flights before ejecting from the vehicle on May 6, 1968, seconds before it crashed. He later completed his lunar landing certification flights using a second vehicle, LLTV-2, just t...