The Lunar rover was first used on July 31, 1971, during the Apollo 15 mission.
David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) made his third and final flight into space as commander of the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth human lunar landing, becoming the seventh person to walk on the Moon and the first person to drive on the Moon. The rover was first used on July 31, 1971, during the Apollo 15 mission. Read more
Apollo 15 landing site imaged from an altitude of 25 km allowing an even higher resolution view! The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is parked to the far right, and the Lunar Module descent stage is in the center, LRV tracks indicated with arrows.
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions. It was also the first mission where the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used. The majority of the first part of the day after arriving in lunar orbit, July 30, 1971, was spent preparing the Lunar Module for the descent to the lunar surface later on that day. After preparations were complete, un-docking from the CSM was attempted, but did not occur because of the faulty seal in the hatch mechanism. Command Module Pilot Al Worden re-sealed the hatch and the LM then successfully separated from the CSM. Dave Scott and Jim Irwin continued preparations for the descent while Al Worden remained in the CSM, returning to a higher orbit to perform lunar observations and await their return a few days later. Soon thereafter, Scott and Irwin began the descent to the Hadley landing site on the surface. Several minutes after descent was initiated, at pitch-over and the beginning of the approach phase of the landing, the LM was six kilometres east of the pre-selected landing target. Upon learning of this, Scott altered the flight path of the LM and touched down at 22:16:29 UTC on July 30 at Hadley, within a few hundred meters of the planned landing site. Read more
Apollo 15 launched 40 years ago on July 26, 1971, from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre. This mission was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth to the Moon. The Apollo 15 mission is important because it was another step in manned exploration bringing more advanced scientific tools for exploration of the Moon. The mission demonstrates the importance that advanced technology has in manned space exploration. The Apollo 15 mission covered 4 main objectives. First the crew was to inspect and survey the lunar surface. This included investigating surface features and obtaining material samples from the selected Hadley-Appennius area of the Moon. The next mission goal was to set-up surface experiments. Next the crew was to evaluate the capability of the Apollo equipment to provide extended lunar surface stay time. The final objective was to conduct inflight experiments and complete photographic tasks from lunar orbit. Read more
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program, the fourth mission to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions. It was also the first mission where the Lunar rover was used. The mission began on July 26, 1971, and concluded on August 7. NASA called it the most successful manned flight ever achieved. Read more