Lunar Roving Vehicle

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a <a href="/facts/Battery_electric_vehicle/vz6w8xyS">battery-powered</a> four-wheeled <a href="/facts/Rover_(space_exploration)/Qo7y32Cz">rover</a> used on the <a href="/facts/Moon/zKHqEMPb">Moon</a> in the last three missions of the American <a href="/facts/Apollo_program/IC1Ek1Ao">Apollo program</a> (<a href="/facts/Apollo_15/8h2QMY4z">15</a>, <a href="/facts/Apollo_16/XQY3CDnf">16</a>, and <a href="/facts/Apollo_17/5szGEz7n">17</a>) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the term "<a href="/facts/Dune_buggy/clGbc6e1">dune buggy</a>".
Built by Boeing, each LRV has a mass of 462 pounds (210 kg) without payload. It could carry a maximum payload of 970 pounds (440 kg), including two astronauts, equipment, and cargo such as lunar samples, and was designed for a top speed of 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h), although it achieved a top speed of 11.2 miles per hour (18.0 km/h) on its last mission, <a href="/facts/Apollo_17/5szGEz7n">Apollo 17</a>.
Each LRV was carried to the Moon folded up in the <a href="/facts/Apollo_Lunar_Module/XtvQS5K5">Lunar Module</a>'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.

Lunar Roving Vehicle open-in-new

Lunar Roving Vehicle