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To the Moon by Way of Testing - Page 3

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Another pivotal test concerned itself with the odd looking Lunar Module. Designated LTA-8, or Lunar Test Article number 8, the vehicle that would land on the moon was thoroughly tested inside of the airless chamber B in May and June of 1968. LTA-8 was primarily an environmental qualifications test of a final version of the LM. While this test vehicle would never leave Earth, it closely resembled LM-3 which was flown on Apollo 9; the first test of a LM in space. Including LTA-8, six test articles were used for the majority of tests that would prove the LM for spaceflight. For example, LTA-1 was a “house” vehicle used for testing changes during fabrication, LTA-2 was used for vibrations testing, LTA-3 and 5 were used for engine firings and structural shaking tests, and LTA-10 was tested to see if it properly fit Saturn rocket adapters.

Jim Irwin and John Bull were assigned to the crew of LTA-8 in the early months of 1967. While their mission patch shows the names Irwin and Bull, his backup, Gerry Gibbons, replaced Bull before the tests were finished. Unfortunately, doctors discovered that Bull had pulmonary problems, a condition that was problematic when you considered he would have to endure changing levels of pressure in the LM and his spacesuit. Bull resigned from NASA soon after. The other backup was Glenn Kingsley. Gibbons and Kingsley were Grumman consulting pilots (Grumman was the primary contractor for the LM).

Irwin and Gibbons conducted a dry run on May 2, 1968 and later went on to spend 48 hours inside of the LM.

While these were grounds tests, and the dangers of outer space were mostly absent, they were still dangerous operations. These astronauts were, after all, inside of an airless chamber; the interiors of the spacecraft were operating as if they were in space. The remoteness of space may have been absent, but the dangers of living inside of a pressurized compartment inside of a sealed vacuum chamber were very real. As mentioned before, the experience and confidence gained during these tests was crucial to the manned spaceflights that would begin later in 1968. Irwin, who would later go on to be the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 15, had even often commented that the work he did on the LTA-8 test was almost more gratifying than his 3 walks on the moon (While on the moon he gave mention of the LTA-8 test). Kerwin, Brand and Engle would all go on to make spaceflights. Kerwin would go first on Skylab 2, the first manned mission to Skylab. Brand would fly on the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission and two shuttle flights. Engle would test fly the shuttle Enterprise during its Altitude and Test Landings and would go on to fly aboard two shuttle missions.

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