A 13-thousand-pound (5896.7-kilos) Apollo Command Module 19A test mock-up (aka boilerplate) was used to test various systems before the actual Apollo was launched, including parachutes.
NASA photos.
On 03JUL1968, NASA’s C-133 Cargomaster drops the Apollo ‘boilerplate’ for parachute (aka Earth Landing System) testing.
The first ELS test was conducted on 03MAY1963. Between 1963 and 1968, 34 drop tests, using various ‘boilerplate’ modules with different parachute configurations, were completed.
Silent NASA video:
‘Boilerplate’ coming down on the Southern California-El Centro desert, 16JUN1968.
Original Northrop Ventura Corporation documentary film:
See an actual boilerplate module at Columbia Memorial Science Center, in California.
NASA photo 1963.
NASA also used the C-133 to haul what was called the Centaur Upper Stage shuttle rocket. The Centaur Upper Stage shuttle rocket has been periodically brought back to life as a cheaper alternative to the Space Shuttle. NASA C-133s also transported stages for Atlas, Saturn and Titan rockets to Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA’s Viking, no not the Mars Landers!
Travis Air Force Base: C-133 Cargomaster