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NASA Honors Historic First Moon Landing, Preps For ‘Next Giant Leap’

NASA marks the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing this month while it takes the steps needed for America’s next giant leap to send astronauts to Mars.

NASA’s Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon July 20, 1969. The world watched 45 years ago as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set their lunar module Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.

NASA’s Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base – recently renamed to honor the late Neil Armstrong — made a number of contributions to the NASA human space flight program during that era. Two of the most significant were the X-15 rocket plane hypersonic research program and the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, both of which had a direct impact on the Apollo missions to the moon.

The following article, originally published in July 2009 on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon mission, explores the contributions of the X-15 hypersonic research program to the Apollo moon-landing program.

X-15 Research Data Contributed to Apollo materials, structure, thermal protection

NASA research pilot Neil Armstrong is seen here in the cockpit of one of the three X-15 rocket planes after a research flight. Armstrong flew the X-15 rocket planes seven times.
NASA

NASA’s Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base was generally thought of as strictly an aeronautical flight-test facility back in the 1960s. However, the center, now NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, made a number of contributions to the NASA human space flight program during that era as well.

Two of the most significant were the X-15 rocket plane hypersonic research program and the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, both of which had a direct impact on the Apollo missions to the moon.

The North American Aviation X-15 rocket planes – designed to explore the problems of atmospheric and space flight at supersonic and hypersonic speeds – served as flying laboratories, carrying scientific experiments above the reaches of the atmosphere. Many research results from the X-15 program at NASA’s Flight Research Center contributed directly to the success of the Apollo lunar missions, now being celebrated on the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969. North American – later North American Rockwell, then Rockwell International – served as prime contractor for both the X-15 and Apollo Command/Service Module spacecraft.

Designers of the Apollo CSM drew upon experience from the X-15 program, and even used the X-15 as a test bed for new materials. Advanced titanium and nickel-steel alloys developed for the X-15 were found to be applicable to Apollo and later spacecraft designs. The discovery of localized hot spots on the X-15, for example, led to development of a bi-metallic “floating retainer” concept to dissipate stresses in the X-15’s windshield. This technology was subsequently applied to the Apollo and space shuttle orbiter windshields.

A split second after launch, one of the three X-15 rocket planes drops away from its pylon on the wing of the NB-52A mothership during one of the X-15 program’s 199 research flights.
U.S. Air Force

The X-15’s performance allowed researchers to accurately simulate the aerodynamic heating conditions that Apollo’s Saturn V rocket would face, and allowed full recovery of test equipment, calibration of results, and repeated testing where necessary. In 1967, technicians applied samples of cryogenic insulation – designed for use on the Apollo Saturn V second stage – to the X-15’s speed brakes to test the material’s adhesive characteristics and response to high temperatures.

X-15 re-entry experience and heat-transfer data were also valuable, and led to design of a computerized mathematical model for aerodynamic heating that was used in the initial Apollo design study. Lessons learned from X-15 turbulent heat-transfer studies contributed to the design of the Apollo CSM because designers found that they could build lighter-weight vehicles using less thermal protection than was previously thought possible.

Peter Merlin, Public Affairs
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center

Epilogue: NASA Back on the Pathway to Deep Space

The lengthened X-15A-2, covered in an ablative coating and a white sealant and carrying two large external fuel tanks, embarks on the flight that would result in an unofficial world speed record for winged aircraft of Mach 6.7, or about 4,520 mph.
NASA

NASA’s path to Mars is utilizing a stepping-stone approach consisting of fundamental human health research and technology demonstrations aboard the International Space Station (ISS); development and evolution of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft to enable human exploration missions in deep space, including to an asteroid; and development of game-changing technologies for tomorrow’s missions.

Though not a major player in the agency’s solar system exploration strategy, NASA Armstrong nevertheless is supporting NASA’s human space flight efforts on several fronts, including flight tests of advanced Space Launch System rocket control systems, structural loads tests of a prototype Hypersonic Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator, and flight validation of a large number of promising space-technology payloads on sub-orbital rockets, high-altitude balloons and parabolic-profile reduced-gravity aircraft via the Flight Opportunities Program.

For more on how NASA is celebrating the 45th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing and the steps the agency is taking for its “next giant leap” to extend human presence further into the solar system, visit: http://1.usa.gov/1qZwiZO

In the words of NASA administrator Charlie Bolden, “In this year after Neil’s passing, knowing that he is looking down at us as we strive to measure up to what he would have expected of us as a nation, I feel very special obligation to say ‘thank you’ Neil, Buzz and Mike. We’re standing on your shoulders, building on your historic achievements, and getting ready to take the next giant leap for humankind.”

NASA Armstrong Public Affairs