4K - Lunar rover vehicle on Moon - 1969

11 months ago
10

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program (15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the terms dune buggy.

Built by Boeing, each LRV has a mass of 460 pounds (210 kg) without payload. It could carry a maximum payload of 1,080 pounds (490 kg), including two astronauts, equipment, and lunar samples, and was designed for a top speed of 8 miles per hour (13 km/h), although it achieved a top speed of 11.2 miles per hour (18.0 km/h) on its last mission, Apollo 17.

Each LRV was carried to the Moon folded up in the Lunar Module's Quadrant 1 Bay. After being unpacked, each was driven an average of 30 km, without major incident. These three LRVS remain on the Moon.

Loading comments...