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The first lunar landing mission was launched on July 16, 1969, and four days later Neil Armstrong successfully flew the LM Eagle to its designated landing spot on the Moon. However, the job of the LLTV was by no means complete. On July 9, one week before the Apollo-11 launch, Apollo-12 commander Pete Conrad had resumed flying the trainer in preparation for the next mission, scheduled for November. After a number of familiarization flights he flew the vehicle again in October and completed the series on October 26, 1969, with his 27th flight (including the 13 LLRV flights in 1968). Conrad echoed Armstrong's praise of the vehicle when he remarked: "This is, like Neil said, the frosting on the cake as far as simulations are concerned. The LLTV is a tricky vehicle. So is the Lunar Module." It became standard practice for Apollo commanders and their backups to fly a series of simulations in the LLTV about one month prior to the scheduled launch date. Apollo-13s Jim Lovell flew the trainer in March 1970 and Apollo-14s Al Shepard in December of that year. In between these flights the LLTVs were regularly taken aloft by MSC pilots to keep them in perfect flying condition. On one of these trials, on January 29, 1971, pilot Stuart M. Present lost his attitude control because of a failure in the electrical system of LLTV no. 2. The vehicle started flipping over backwards and when he was facing straight up, Present ejected and parachuted to safety. The incident came two days before the Apollo-14 launch, but NASA hastened to say it would not affect the mission, since the LLTV's electrical system was totally different from that in the LM. There was some talk of ending the LLTV flights altogether because they were too risky. However, the astronauts strongly disagreed because experience had shown that the vehicles accurately forecast the LM's handling characteristics during the final descent to the Moon. Chief astronaut Deke Slayton said there was "no other way to simulate Moon landings except by flying the LLTV." NASA management concurred and the flights continued. [b]Final Flight[/b] On November 13, 1972, three weeks before the final mission in the Apollo program, Apollo-17 commander Eugene A. Cernan made the last flight in LLTV no. 3 before it was retired. Despite the fact that three of the five training vehicles crashed, the program was very successful. Hundreds of LLTV flights had given the Apollo crews the confidence they needed to make a total of six flawless landings on the Moon. The LLRV/LLTV was absolutely essential to this record of success. Two of the vehicles still exist today. LLRV no. 2 is displayed at the Dryden Flight Research Center, where it made its maiden flight in 1967. LLTV no. 3 had been on display at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center for 12 years when it was returned to Houston for the 20th anniversary of the Apollo-11 mission in 1989. It can now be seen at the Johnson Space Center's visitor center.
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