On 17 Oct 2003 18:49:32 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

From: (

snip

Anyway I continue... as U. S. Air Force veteran can you imagine that
someone was capable to perform landing in a surface of space object
(never done before) 6 times in a row using completely new technology
without actual testing it?

Every system, including the lander, was extensively tested prior to the first
landing. Feel free to reasearch this. You will find examples of failures and
successes.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

NASA even built a "zero-G" test rig to try out the landers controls.
It had a lift engine that could be throttled to exactly balance out
the weight of the rig, so the thrusted operated at "zero-G"

Al Minyard