From moon landings to crash and splash tests

What is now the Landing Impact and Research Facility at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., was built in 1965 to test the lunar landing module, which simulated touchdown procedures for the Apollo moon missions. At 240 feet high and 400 feet long, it looks like a giant steel erector set. It is now used to conduct crash testing of full scale aircraft under controlled conditions and splash testing of space capsule mock ups.