page_title: Apollo Lunar Module
section_title: Development flights
hierarchical_section_title: Apollo Lunar Module / History / Development flights
caption_attribution_description: English: The Lunar Module Test Article [LTA] 2R, for the second Saturn V mission, is being moved from the low bay of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building for mating with the spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter. The second Saturn V [502], except for a different lunar return trajectory, will be a repeat of the Apollo 4 unmanned Earth orbital flight of a high apogee for systems testing using several propulsion system burns and a heat shield test at lunar re-entry speed. Français&#160;: La ùaquette du module lunaire du programme Apollo, code LTA-2R (Lunar Module Test Article ), est préparée au centre spatial à Houston avant d'être lancée le 4 avril 1968 avec le vol Apollo 6 pour tester le comportement dynamique de sa structure. Le moteur et les équiments sont remplacés par des instruments de mesure.
context_page_description: The Apollo Lunar Module, or simply Lunar Module, originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module, was the lander spacecraft that was flown from lunar orbit to the Moon's surface during the U.S. Apollo program. It was the first crewed spacecraft to operate exclusively in the airless vacuum of space, and remains the only crewed vehicle to land anywhere beyond Earth.
  Structurally and aerodynamically incapable of flight through Earth's atmosphere, the two-stage lunar module was ferried to lunar orbit attached to the Apollo command and service module, about twice its mass. Its crew of two flew the complete lunar module from lunar orbit to the Moon's surface. During takeoff, the spent descent stage was used as a launch pad for the ascent stage which then flew back to the command module, after which it was also discarded.
  Overseen by Grumman Aircraft, the LM's development was plagued with problems that delayed its first uncrewed flight by about ten months and its first crewed flight by about three months. Still, the LM became the most reliable component of the Apollo–Saturn space vehicle.
context_section_description: LM-1 was built to make the first uncrewed flight for propulsion systems testing, launched into low Earth orbit atop a Saturn IB. This was originally planned for April 1967, to be followed by the first crewed flight later that year. But the LM's development problems had been underestimated, and LM-1's flight was delayed until January 22, 1968, as Apollo 5. At that time, LM-2 was held in reserve in case the LM-1 flight failed, which did not happen.
  LM-3 now became the first crewed LM, again to be flown in low Earth orbit to test all the systems, and practice the separation, rendezvous, and docking planned for Apollo 8 in December 1968. But again, last-minute problems delayed its flight until Apollo 9 on March 3, 1969. A second, higher Earth orbit crewed practice flight had been planned to follow LM-3, but this was canceled to keep the program timeline on track.
  Apollo 10 launched on May 18, 1969, using LM-4 for a "dress rehearsal" for the lunar landing, practicing all phases of the mission except powered descent initiation through takeoff. The LM descended to 47,400 feet (9.0 mi; 14.4 km) above the lunar surface, then jettisoned the descent stage and used its ascent engine to return to the CSM.
caption: The Apollo 6 Lunar Module Test Article (LTA-2R) shortly before being mated with the SLA
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