July 31, 1971 – The first drive on the moon
Apollo 15 LRV on the moon
In a truly out of this world event, US astronauts David Scott and James Irwin became the first people to drive an automobile on a lunar surface on this day in 1971. The not so casual cruise occurred during the Apollo 15 NASA mission to the moon, with the buggy taking to the lunar dust the day after their craft made a successful landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc1I6iU4C8E
The Lunar Roving Vehicles (LRV) were built by Boeing under contract from NASA. The first came to a total cost of $38,000,000. The moon buggies weighed in at about 460 pounds each, and were foldable for easy transport. LRVs were used during the final three Apollo missions to the moon, 15, 16 and 17. The vehicles allowed astronauts to cover greater distances during survey ...
