Lunar Roving Vehicle Model

Hanging above you while you snake your way through the queue for Mission Space at EPCOT, is a wonderful model of the Lunar Roving Vehicle. In 2021, I had a chance to go to the park, and was able to snap a fe photos of it. The room is darkly lit, so you are going […]

Lunar Electric Rover

Inside Building 9 (aka Space Vehicle Mockup Facility) is the Lunar Electric Rover. The end of the Level 9 tour, included a stop here. Although this a tram stop for the regular tour, with the Level 9 tour we are able to get on the floor of the facility. In addition to seeing training mockup […]

Lunar Roving Vehicle #4

Encased next to the Saturn V at the Apollo Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center, is Lunar Rover Vehicle #4. This particular unit is a non-operable, full-scale mock-up built for display purposes from mostly surplus parts. With that said, this is the best-displayed LRV. Except for being able to fully see the back of the […]

Lunar Roving Vehicle, 1-G trainer

Several rovers were created for testing, training, or validation purposes. Astronauts Dave Scott, Jim Irwin, John Young, Charlie Duke, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt all practiced on the Lunar Rover trainer displayed at Space Center Houston in preparation for their respective missions. This training rover was specially designed so that it would work on Earth, […]

Lunar Roving Vehicle, Vibration Test Unit

Several rovers were created for testing, training, or validation purposes. The rover used for vibration testing is on display in the Davidson Saturn V Center at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Lunar Roving Vehicle, Qualification Test Unit

In addition to the flight vehicles, Boeing manufactured eight non-flight units for development and testing. One, the “Qualification Test Unit,” was a very close replica of the units that flew. Using special test chambers, engineers purposely subjected the qualification unit to conditions many times as severe as those expected on an actual mission. When the […]

Lunar Roving Vehicle Engineering Mock-up

Now on display at the Museum of Flight, outside of Seattle, Washington is the Lunar Roving Vehicle Engineering Mock-up. This was the first test vehicle that was delivered to NASA. Its purpose was to figure out things like how much foot-room the astronauts would need, whether they could climb aboard easily in their bulky spacesuits and whether […]