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TOday in 1971, David Scott and James Irwin went to make a trip on the way, but it was not a joyride. Scott and Irwin, NASA astronauts on the Moon mission of Apollo 15, became the first people to burn rubber on the surface of the moon. The Lunar Roving vehicle with battery, or “Moon Buggy”, could go to 12 miles per hour and have taken astronauts on longer trips than possible during brief and cultivating walks in their bulky costumes.
The buggy weighed only 77 pounds on the moon and could bypass two astronauts, as well as their cameras, their equipment and their hundreds of samples. It was also quite agile, handling slopes of about 25 degrees, the same note as the average blue race on a mountain of skiing. During the Apollo 15 mission, Scott and Irwin gathered 170 pounds of moon material during their 17 -thousand lunar trip.
But first, it took a lot of tests to create an adjusted vehicle for extraterrestrial soil travel. The Buggy Moon was envisaged by the Marshall Space Flight Center and built by the Boeing Company. Boeing had to ensure that the vehicle could bear the heat up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as extreme under-atro temperatures. The company therefore used its spacious thermal vacuum room, where liquid nitrogen cooled the walls at -320 degrees. And thanks to intense xenon arc lamps, the rover has manipulated the heat. The buggy was also packed in a lunar test module and was abandoned, simulating a bumpy landing.
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After the Apollo 15 mission, NASA opted for long -term parking. Today, the rover is still on the side of the moon – with a bible on the dashboard, left by Irwin.
Image of lead: nasa
