Lunokhod 1 traverse

Lunokhod 1 · 1970 CE – 1971 CE · The Moon

Lunokhod 1 traverse — Lunokhod 1 · 1970 CE – 1971 CE · The Moon — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Drive a rover across the lunar surface.

Historical context

Before people could drive on the Moon, Soviet engineers built an eight-wheeled robot steered from Earth by television. Lunokhod 1 roamed the Sea of Rains for ten months.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Luna 17 sets down

    17 November 1970

    On 17 November 1970 the lander touches down in the Sea of Rains and unfolds two ramps onto the dust.

  2. The first rover rolls

    1970 CE

    A bathtub of magnesium on eight wire-mesh wheels drives down the ramp and becomes the first rover on another world.

  3. Five men at a screen

    1970 CE

    A crew of commander, driver, navigator, engineer and radio operator steers it from the Crimea, seconds behind reality.

  4. Pressing the ground

    1971 CE

    A cone-shaped penetrometer stamps the soil at every halt while an X-ray spectrometer reads its chemistry.

  5. Ten kilometres on another world

    September 1971

    Driven by television from Earth, it works for 322 days, covers 10.5 kilometres and sends back 20,000 pictures.

  6. A mirror found again

    1971 CE

    Its French-built laser reflector goes silent for decades, until an orbiter photograph finally pins down where the rover stopped.

Outcome

Drove over 10 km in the Sea of Rains.

Lunokhod 1

First remote-controlled rover to drive on another world, exploring the Moon from 1970 to 1971.

Read on Wikipedia

Sources

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