User:JustinTime55/sandbox/Lunar Test Article

A Lunar Test Article, Lunar Module Test Article, or LEM Test Article (LTA), was one of several non-flight versions of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) built by Grumman Aircraft, used for various testing and astronaut training purposes. Ten LTAs were planned, and seven were actually built and used. These ranged in complexity from what were essentially boilerplate LMs used as ballast in Saturn V flights, to LTA-8, a full-up replica of the LM used for a 1968 environmental system test conducted by a two-astronaut crew in a vacuum chamber in NASA's Space Environment Simulation Laboratory in Houston. Some were repurposed for different tests.

"Six lunar test articles LTAs formed the backbone of the ground test program. Bethpage shipped LTA-2 to Huntsville for vibration testing to see if it could withstand launch pressures, and LTA-10 to Tulsa, to check its fit in the adapter. LTA-1 was a "house" spacecraft, used to iron out problems during fabrication, assembly, and checkout. Three more LTAs were under construction: LTA-8 for thermal-vacuum testing in Houston and LTAs 3 and 5 for combined structural shakings, vibrations, and engine firings.

In July, Houston directed Bethpage to delete LTA-4, a vibration test article, and two flight test articles (FTAs). To replace the FTAs, two LTAs would be refurbished when they finished ground tests. After trials with scale and full-sized models had been run at Langley and elsewhere, Houston also canceled a landing gear test model as an unnecessary expense."