On Jan 25, 2:30*am, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
On Jan 24, 12:27*am, wrote:

Harrison Schmitt ( Apollo 17 Lunar module pilot) was a civillian but
to what extent did he help fly the LM?
Is there really anything in common with flying an airplane and an LM?
Terry
PPL ( and aspiring astronaut)

Check out the NASA footage of the practice LMs being flown.

Here's a link I found to some posts about flying the thing -- of
course it is the Internet so, maybe complete BS.

http://yarchive.net/space/apollo/lun...e_landing.html

Today, scientist look back at the moon landings and are still in shock
that no one ever died. Back then no one really realized the extent to
which they got lucky many times on the Apollo missions. During
practice with the LM teethered the pilots often would lose control. In
addition, the assent rocket on the LM only worked 6 out of 10 times.

yes it was a very risky endeavour to be sure, but the LM was probably
the most reliable part of the whole system. I dont recall any tethered
flights with the LM , I dont think it had enough thrust to fly in
earths gravity. they did make some wierd contraption, which they
called the" flying bedstead" that tried to simulate the LM on earth.
Armstrong nearly killed himself in it. I dont know where you got the
6 out of 10 engine failure stat from, the LM ascent engine
reliability was something that was given a hell of a lot of attention,
NASA realizing the public relations disaster of leaving astronauts
stranded on the moon. I do not believe they would have accepted a 6
out of 10 failure rate. the engine itself was of hypergolic design,
nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine which only had to come into contact
to ignite. The LM worked almost flawlessly on 9 out of 9 space
flights including of course Apollo 13 where it performed way above
what it was designed for.
terry