The LLRVs were used by the FRC, now known as the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, at Edwards Air Force Base, California, to study and analyze piloting techniques needed to fly and land the Apollo Lunar Module in the Moon's low gravity environment.

Because of landing site selection problems, Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, said his mission would not have been successful without extensive training on the LLTVs.

In a 2009 interview, astronaut Curt Michel stated, "For airborne craft, the helicopter was the closest in terms of characteristics to the lunar lander.

[4] Built of aluminum alloy trusses, the LLRVs were powered by a General Electric CF700-2V turbofan engine with a thrust of 4,200 lbf (19 kN), mounted vertically in a gimbal.

Two hydrogen peroxide lift rockets with thrust that could be varied from 100 to 500 lbf (440 to 2,200 N) handled the vehicle's rate of descent and horizontal movement.

Sixteen smaller hydrogen peroxide thrusters, mounted in pairs, gave the pilot control in pitch, yaw and roll.

On activation, it propelled the pilot upward from the vehicle with an acceleration of roughly 14 times the force of gravity for about a half second.

Both observed, as did Armstrong and the other astronauts, that if a serious control problem developed, the pilot had little choice but to eject, since the vehicle only operated to a maximum altitude of 500 feet (200 m).

On May 6, 1968, Armstrong was forced to use LLRV-1's ejection seat from about 200 feet (60 m) altitude after a control problem, and had about four seconds on his full parachute before landing on the ground unhurt.

[8] The accident investigation board found that the fuel for the vehicle's attitude control thrusters had run out and that high winds were a major factor.

[8] Negotiations between JSC and Bell Aerosystems for three LLTVs (LLTV-1 to 3), an improved training version of the LLRV, were initiated in October 1966 and a $5.9 million contract for three vehicles was finally signed in March 1967.

In June 1968, the first vehicle (LLTV-1) was delivered by Bell to Ellington to begin its ground and flight testing by JSC's Aircraft Operations Division (AOD).

After reviewing the results of the crash investigation, however, it was decided that the third LLTV (LLTV-3) be loaded into NASA's Super Guppy and flown to the Langley Research Center in Virginia for testing in its full-scale wind tunnel.

A high level LLTV Flight Readiness Review Board was appointed on March 5, 1969 by JSC Director Dr. Robert Gilruth.

Despite its ungainly appearance, the LLRV was equipped with a highly sophisticated array of early sensors (mainly Doppler radar) and computational hardware.

The LLRV's Lunar Sim Mode was even able to correct for wind gusts within milliseconds, as they would have disturbed the impression of a missing atmosphere.

I'm sure with training and experience the pilot will be able to increase the overall vehicle-pilot performance once he adapts to the low translational accelerations that are available, as well as the lag that follows along with the anticipation that is required to properly control the vehicle.

Even with this training, the pilot is faced with the situation of about 5/6 of his translational maneuvering performance removed from that on earth which is a marked change.Deke Slayton, then NASA's Chief Astronaut, later said there was no way to simulate a Moon landing except by flying the LLRV.

General characteristics Performance The electronic control system for the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle was developed for NASA by Bell Aerosystems, Inc. which had engineering facilities located in Niagara Falls, New York.

The LLTV provided Apollo program commanders the opportunity to experience the flight characteristics associated with the 1/6 gravity conditions on the Moon.