50 Years Ago, NASA Put a Car on the Moon (nytimes.com) 32
The lunar rovers of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 parked American automotive culture on the lunar surface, and expanded the scientific range of the missions' astronaut explorers. From a report: Dave Scott was not about to pass by an interesting rock without stopping. It was July 31, 1971, and he and Jim Irwin, his fellow Apollo 15 astronaut, were the first people to drive on the moon. After a 6-hour inaugural jaunt in the new lunar rover, the two were heading back to their lander, the Falcon, when Mr. Scott made an unscheduled pit stop. West of a crater called Rhysling, Mr. Scott scrambled out of the rover and quickly picked up a black lava rock, full of holes formed by escaping gas. Mr. Scott and Mr. Irwin had been trained in geology and knew the specimen, a vesicular rock, would be valuable to scientists on Earth. They also knew that if they asked for permission to stop and get it, clock-watching mission managers would say no. So Mr. Scott made up a story that they stopped the rover because he was fidgeting with his seatbelt. The sample was discovered when the astronauts returned to Earth, Mr. Scott described what he'd done, and "Seatbelt Rock" became one of the most prized geologic finds from Apollo 15.
Like many lunar samples returned to Earth by the final Apollo missions, Seatbelt Rock never would have been collected if the astronauts had not brought a car with them. Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 are the NASA lunar missions that tend to be remembered most vividly. But at the 50th anniversary of Apollo 15, which launched on July 26, 1971, some space enthusiasts, historians and authors are giving the lunar rover its due as one of the most enduring symbols of the American moon exploration program. Foldable, durable, battery-powered and built by Boeing and General Motors, the vehicle is seen by some as making the last three missions into the crowning achievement of the Apollo era. "Every mission in the crewed space program, dating back to Alan Shepard's first flight, had been laying the groundwork for the last three Apollo missions," said Earl Swift, author of a new book about the lunar rover, "Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings. You see NASA take all of that collected wisdom, gleaned over the previous decade in space, and apply it," Mr. Swift said. "It's a much more swashbuckling kind of science."
Like many lunar samples returned to Earth by the final Apollo missions, Seatbelt Rock never would have been collected if the astronauts had not brought a car with them. Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 are the NASA lunar missions that tend to be remembered most vividly. But at the 50th anniversary of Apollo 15, which launched on July 26, 1971, some space enthusiasts, historians and authors are giving the lunar rover its due as one of the most enduring symbols of the American moon exploration program. Foldable, durable, battery-powered and built by Boeing and General Motors, the vehicle is seen by some as making the last three missions into the crowning achievement of the Apollo era. "Every mission in the crewed space program, dating back to Alan Shepard's first flight, had been laying the groundwork for the last three Apollo missions," said Earl Swift, author of a new book about the lunar rover, "Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings. You see NASA take all of that collected wisdom, gleaned over the previous decade in space, and apply it," Mr. Swift said. "It's a much more swashbuckling kind of science."
And so (Score:2)
"Be careful you never drive so far away you can't walk back."
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"Be careful you never drive so far away you can't walk back."
Elon's going to have a long walk to his Roadster [wikipedia.org] ... :-)
In 2068 (50 years from its launch in 2018), I guess we can celebrate him putting a car into orbit around the Sun.
The Roadster is in a heliocentric orbit that crosses the orbit of Mars and reaches a distance of 1.66 au from the Sun
And where is that Moonbase? Right... (Score:1)
Meaningless stunt was meaningless....
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What pray tell are we going to do with a moon-base? Film a sequel to 1999?
Re: And where is that Moonbase? Right... (Score:2)
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As a kid I thought it was silly, how come they arrived in new solar systems regularly but then spent a long time in them given that distances between systems are much bigger than the system.
Later when I understood how small systems are compared to interstellar space.. I thought that even hitting a star system close enough to do anything seemed very unlikely...
Re: And where is that Moonbase? Right... (Score:2)
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In order for us to learn, we must try.
That stunt did allow for some additional finds such as the article mentioned "seatbelt" rock. Which allowed people to get further away from the lander which would had disturbed the area to land.
Also, after NASA figured out the Risk vs Rewards of the Car Stunt, this would help them determine if it is worth the effort to actually try to build a moon base.
Also experience driving in a low gravity rocky environment help aid the design of the mars rovers as well.
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Re: And where is that Moonbase? Right... (Score:2)
Cold War Driven, but not for ICBMs (Score:2)
Sorry, the moon program was for propaganda primarily and secondarily because nobody knew how to get out of it because it was associated with an assassinated president.
While Apollo was being developed, the liquid fueled missiles were being replaced with solid fueled boosters and Apollo actually took inertial guidance technology from ICBMs.
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"Meaningless" stunt was REQUIRED to validate the rocket. Usually they fill the space with concrete to prove the rocket will work. At least this time they got some publicity out of it.
As someone once said (Score:5, Funny)
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No aliens possessing oil so we haven't been back in a long time.
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There's nothing more American than getting in a rocket and going to another planet, so you can drive a car around once you get there.
USA!! USA!! USA!!
Re: As someone once said (Score:2)
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Also, refuse to ask for directions.
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It was an electric car though, so I imagine someone pointed out that it didn't have enough range to get to their remote cabin at the bottom of a crater and that there aren't many public chargers on the Moon.
It was a Chevy (Score:2)
FYI.
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The perfect brand for the one time use drive.
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The perfect brand for the one time use drive.
No roads on the Moon so it was easier than Ford having to re-badge something "Fomd" (Found on Moon Dead). :-)
Remembering the first auto repair in space (Score:5, Interesting)
My best memory of the lunar rovers was the tape and map fender replacement made by the Apollo 17 astronauts you can read about it here: https://airandspace.si.edu/sto... [si.edu]
As a kid I was amazed that (any kind of) tape would work in the vacuum of space.
Congratulations to everyone who worked on the lunar rovers and their contribution to the incredible Apollo program.
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It's even more amazing when you realize there was practically no space on the lunar module for the lunar rover. Basically the car had to fold up into a space that was about 1 cubic meter. That's why the seats were basically lawn chairs, the wheels were effectively spring mesh and the antenna is so weird (it folded up).
And it was also electric, of course. Except you really had range anxiety with it because there was no provision to recharge the battery - it was a primary cell only and once it was drained, it
I know (Score:2)
I watched it live.
Reading it now (Score:3)
I'm reading that book right now. Well written. So far, a good read.
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Digital Apollo [amazon.com] was the last book I read about the that era. That one was good. And you think writing and delivering software today is difficult. Try delivering your object code as small, donut-shaped magnets on a braided set of wires, fabricated by hand by little old ladies according the output of your dev tools. I will never complain about DevOps pipelines, having read about that.
The X-15, originally, had two sets of controls, one for atmospheric and one for exo-atmospheric. They
The first email was sent fifty years ago too. (Score:2)
You do realize that email is also a 50 year old technology? For all intents and purposes every government employee has an email address, so then why am I denied my rights under the first amendment of the United States constitution to communicate with my government in a way that works for me? To wit, asynchronous digital written communication. Unless youâ(TM)re willing to argue that deaf, mute, and/or individuals with aphasia donâ(TM)t have rights under the first amendment, then freedom of speech e