View allAll Photos Tagged LunarRovingVehicle
Fifty years ago, April 20, 1972, Apollo 16's lunar module Orion touched down on the Moon's near side in the south-central Descartes Highlands. While astronaut Ken Mattingly orbited overhead in Casper the friendly command and service module the Orion brought John Young and Charles Duke to the lunar surface. The pair would spend nearly three days on the Moon. Constructed from images taken near the end of their third and final surface excursion this panoramic view puts the lunar module in the distance toward the left. Their electric lunar roving vehicle in the foreground, Duke is operating the camera while Young aims the high gain communications antenna skyward, toward planet Earth.
Image credit: NASA
#NASAMarshall #LRV #LunarRovingVehicle #Apollo16 #moon
Last week my son and I went to video-tape the private space collection of Steve Jurvetson at Future Ventures, bit.ly/3wt0MtW. I took some photos after the video session.
This instrument was made for the traverse gravimeter experiment (TGE) of the Apollo 17 mission. It was mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), and measured the relative gravity at a number of places around landing area. The photo shows the center piece that measured the gravity on the moon very accurately. The instrument is gold-plated. See more info on the gold-plated instrument at go.nasa.gov/3dygqeO. See more photos on the Quality HDR Photography FB page at bit.ly/3rN9vDG.
I processed a realistic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.
Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
-- ƒ/4.0, 50 mm, 1/30 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-50F18, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC7405_hdr1rea1b.jpg
-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography
Today in 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin became the first humans to drive a car on the lunar surface, the Lunar Roving Vehicle. The lightweight, electric car greatly increased the range of mobility and productivity on the scientific traverses for astronauts. The LRV weighed 462 pounds (77 pounds on the Moon) and could carry two suited astronauts, their gear and cameras, and several hundred pounds of bagged lunar samples. The LRV was designed and developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and built by Boeing. Here, David Scott waits in the LRV for the return trip to the Lunar Module, Falcon, with rocks and soil collected near the Hadley-Apennine landing site. Today, Marshall is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA's exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA's remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA's activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA's history, visit the Marshall History Program's webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #apollo #apollo17 #moon #LRV #LunarRovingVehicle #astronaut #moonwalk
This week in 1972, Apollo 17 landed on the lunar surface and became the third and final mission to employ the Lunar Roving Vehicle -– a lightweight, electric vehicle designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon. It allowed Apollo astronauts to extend the range of their moonwalks. Here, astronaut Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 moonwalk at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. Today, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #apollo #apollo17 #moon #LRV #LunarRovingVehicle #astronaut #moonwalk
“LRV-2 Deploy from LM Simulator using FLT no. 3 SSE. REF. no. Boeing 1-4081.”
What’s SSE you ask? Even if you didn’t:
“1.9. SPACE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT (SSE)
The Space Support Equipment (SSE) consists of two basic subsystems of hardware, the structural support subsystem and the deployment hardware subsystem. The function of the structural support subsystem is to structurally support the LRV in the LM during launch boost, earth-lunar transit and landing. The function of the deployment hardware subsystems is to deploy the LRV from the LM to the lunar surface after landing.”
Above per/at:
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LRV_OpsNAS8-25145Pt1.pdf
Credit: ALSJ website
And, based on the above, one can deduce that - despite being MSFC issued - the photograph was taken at the Boeing Company’s Kent, WA facility, prior to shipment to KSC. That’s the only place the SSE associated with “FLT no. 3”, aka LRV-3/Apollo 17, would be “externally/pre-installation” available
Also, check out the deformed front left wheel…damn…along with the cool shadow cast by the left rear wheel on the wall/partition. A great visual demonstrating its ingenious “transparent” mesh design. Finally, the sequence of previous? LRV deployment photos posted, visible on the far left. Now, if I could only identify the Great American in the image.
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle as part of the Apollo 15 lunar landing mission.
The LRV was a two-person, four-wheeled all electric vehicle measuring ten feet two inches long, forty-four inches high with a seven-foot wheelbase. The finished rover weighed in at less than 450 pounds and was comprised of large mesh wheels, antenna appendages, tool caddies, and cameras. In developing the rover, engineers overcame a series of technical challenges including the lack of a lunar atmosphere, extreme variations in surface temperature, reduced gravity, and the many unknowns surrounding lunar soil and topography.
Over its lifetime, the LRV carried six astronauts over fifty-six miles and provided the astronauts of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 greater operational mobility, increasing scientific returns several times over.
For more photos of the history of the Lunar Rover, click here.
Dave Scott, commandant de mission, photographié par James Irwin, le 2 août 1971, près de la Rille Hadley. A l'arrière plan, un bout de la chaîne des monts Apennins, dont les sommets culminent à 5000 mètres.
A noter : le panneau de l'aile avant gauche du LRV ("Jeep" lunaire) a été perdu !
NASA/Laurent Saulnier
Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. This picture, looking eastward, was taken by Astronaut John W. Young, commander. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The parked Lunar Roving Vehicle can be seen in the left background.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: as16-114-18423
Date: April 21, 1972
Something from the archives. This has been on my ”Projects” folder for three years now. There was always something missing from it and I couldn’t figure out what it was until yesterday. I had tried to make it a regular photograph without the original negative borders and the crosshairs. I think it all needs to be there.
Those Apollo mission photographs are astonishing btw. I mean seriously, if you really look at them they are just crazy cool!
These photographs were taken at Taurus-Littow landing site on the Moon by Gene Cernan on December 13, 1972 and they are from this Flickr album by Apollo Image Gallery. I have edited them in terms of colour and contrast – and the Eagle.
On this date in 1971, one day after landing Apollo astronauts Dave Scott and James Irwin explored the surface of the moon in the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), the first of its kind on the lunar surface.
This photo from the June 11, 1971 issue of Life Magazine shows the astronauts -- from left, Jim Irwin, Al Worden and Dave Scott -- posing with their color-coded Corvettes and the 1-G LRV trainer. As with the stylized birds on the Apollo 15 patch, the cars are red, white, and dark blue.
In a 2005 e-mail, Dave Scott notes "As I recall, this particular photo of the corvettes was taken out by the launch pad. The corvettes were stylized to essentially show the flag and set a bit of unit pride... primarily to let the troops know that we were about and paying attention to all they were doing; e.g., at almost any level of the launch complex one could look down and recognize the crew's cars; we went to the pad often for various spacecraft activities as well as to just say hello to the folks putting the Saturn V and its payload together."
For more photos of the history of the Lunar Rover, click here.
Credit: Life Magazine
APOLLO 17 ASTRONAUT WITH AMERICAN FLAThe voyage of Apollo 17 marked the program’s concluding expedition to the moon. The mission lifted off after midnight on Dec. 7, 1972 from Kennedy Space Center and touched down on the lunar surface on Dec. 11. The crew spent almost 75 hours on the lunar surface, conducted nearly 22 hours of extravehicular activities (EVAs), and traveled almost 19 miles in the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). During lunar lift-off on Dec. 14, Apollo 17 Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan remarked that the astronauts were leaving as they came, “with peace and hope for all mankind.” In this photo, taken during the second EVA on Dec. 12, 1972, Cernan is standing near the lunar rover designed by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Original image: www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/gallery/41st_annive...
More Marshall history images:
www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/gallery/marshall_hi...
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
On July 31, 1971, the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) made its lunar debut. The LRV, developed my Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, would travel just over 17 miles, logging three hours and two minutes of driving time. The LRV greatly expanded the range of the Apollo astronauts’ lunar surface activities and experiments. This photograph, taken by commander David R. Scott, shows lunar module pilot James B. Irwin working at the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site.
Image credit: NASA
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/apollo15_140731.html
More about Marshall Center history:
www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/index.html
Marshall History Album on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157636868630444/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Eugene A. Cernan, Commander, Apollo 17 salutes the flag on the lunar surface during extravehicular activity (EVA) on NASA's final lunar landing mission. The Lunar Module "Challenger" is in the left background behind the flag and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) also in background behind him. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Challenger to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, Command Module pilot, remained with the Command/Service Module (CSM) "America" in lunar-orbit.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS17-134-20380
Date: December 11, 1972
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This view of the "stripped down" Rover is prior to loadup. This photograph was taken by Geologist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, Lunar Module pilot. The mountain in the right background is the East end of South Massif.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS17-147-22526
Date: December 11, 1972
Frames Used :
(Medium Resolution)
AS16-117-18804
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Station 10 Prime Panorama
“APOLLO 15 LRV ON MOON---An artist's concept of the Apollo 15 Hadley-Apennine landing area showing the two moon-exploring crewmen on a traverse in their Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The two figures represent Astronauts David R. Scott, commander, and James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot. The Apollo 15 Lunar Module is in left background. (Art work by Teledyne Ryan.)”
“Art work by Teledyne Ryan” means it’s by Robert Watts…whose signature has been removed by the cropping of the image, in comparison to the linked Teledyne Ryan issuance of it.
It looks like Dave’s got the pedal to the metal and is barreling INTO Hadley Rille…probably redlining it at ~12 mph! Like “Thelma & Louise”!
Astronaut James B. Irwin, Lunar Module pilot, works at the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The shadow of the Lunar Module "Falcon" is in the foreground. This view is looking northeast, with Mount Hadley in the background. This photograph was taken by Astronaut David R. Scott, Commander.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS15-86-11603
Date: July 31, 1971
“LUNAR ROVING VEHICLE – MANNED MODE”
I may be mixing apples & oranges; however, this looks to be one of multiple similarly derived Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) & Local Science Survey Module (LSSM)…manned/unmanned, maybe even lunar Mobile Laboratory (MOLAB) – and who knows what else – artist’s concepts…I think developed/proposed under the auspices of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Possibly by Bendix? Or not. Who really knows.
Just for me - so I remember & hopefully - know where to find it: although there’s no signature, a VERY similar rendition of this vehicle & its derivatives/variations, to include the perspective, lunar surface, etc., was identified to have been by a probable Bendix Corp. artist with the last name of “Brown”. So that narrows down any future searches. 😉 👍
"American manned lunar rover. Study 1968. The Bendix Local Science Survey Module was a forerunner of the Lunar Rover. The LSSM was a small size vehicle used to support a local manned survey. It was proposed for delivery with an LM Shelter.
AKA: Local Scientific Survey Module.
Status: Study 1968.
Payload: 320 kg (700 lb).
Gross mass: 900 kg (1,980 lb).
The typical, one-man configuration weighed on the order of 450 kg, was battery powered and had a total range capability of 200 km per mission. The crew sat in an open cockpit.
As envisioned in 1968, the single-person battery-powered go-cart would have four individually driven wheels, and be capable of a 14-day mission after 90 days of storage on the surface of the moon (it was expected to be delivered by an unmanned cargo carrier before the manned mission arrived). It had a nominal operating speed of 8 km/hour, an individual sortie duration of three to six hours, an 8 km radius of operation, with a total range of 25 km per sortie or 200 km per mission. The 900 kg operational mass consisted of 450 kg for the basic vehicle, 320 kg of cargo, and 130 kg for one astronaut and his space suit. Bendix built a prototype, but the far lighter and somewhat less capable two-crew Lunar Rover was developed instead.
Crew Size: 1.
Crew: 130 kg (280 lb)."
All above per the comprehensive Astronautix website, at:
www.astronautix.com/l/lssm.html
Additionally:
www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/auction-classic/auction-clas...
Specifically:
i2.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016...
i2.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016...
Credit: CURBSIDE CLASSIC website
Photo, with associated MSFC description, at:
mix.msfc.nasa.gov/abstracts.php?p=3217
Specifically:
mix.msfc.nasa.gov/images/HIGH/0401762.jpg
Credit: MSFC MiX website
And, referred to as the generic "Mobility Test Article":
images.nasa.gov/details-0401757
archive.org/details/MSFC-0401762
Credit: Internet Archive website
While I understand the cushioning & shock absorption intent of the unique wheel design, what’s up with the smooth treadless contact surface? If you hit a patch of black ice on those, like, say when tooling around Shackleton Crater...you’re toast.
Note also the modified lunar module, with what appears to be the LSSM cradle/housing fixture...at the level of the ascent stage. And check out the snout-like appearance of front of the ascent stage. Doesn’t it look like it should house a chute/slide? Hmm...possibly a method of egress that NASA didn’t want any of us to know about? Actually makes the rope idea look pretty good.
...upon further research - not even for this - it's a LM shelter...I should've known. AND, check this out:
Credit: AstroCryptoTriviology website - ALWAYS a wonderful resource!
Last, but NOT least, another small win for preserving the memory of the myriad artists & illustrators that brought to life what was envisioned/planned! This is one of many wonderful works by Mr. Renato Moncini!
Also seen here:
archive.org/details/MSFC-0401762
Credit: Internet Archive website
Other outstanding presentations by Mr. Moncini, obviously in a series he created for Bendix:
archive.org/details/MSFC-0401764
archive.org/details/MSFC-0401765
archive.org/details/MSFC-0401766
archive.org/details/MSFC-0401767
Credit: Internet Archive website
(April 22, 1972) The Apollo 16 Lunar Module "Orion" is photographed from a distance by astronaut Chares M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot, aboard the moving Lunar Roving Vehicle. Astronauts Duke and Commander John W. Young, were returing from the third Apollo 16 extravehicular activity (EVA-2). The RCA color television camera mounted on the LRV is in the foreground. A portion of the LRV's high-gain antenna is at top left.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS16-116-18678
Date: April 22, 1972
Geologist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split boulder at Station 6 on the sloping base of North Massif during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The "Rover" Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is in the left foreground. Schmitt is the Apollo 17 Lunar Module pilot. This picture was taken by Commander Eugene A. Cernan.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS17-146-22294
Date: December 13, 1972
Schmitt's Station 3 pan providing context as to where he toiled and the location of Cernan's double drive tube.
At/from:
www.lpi.usra.edu/ANGSA/samples/panorama.png
Credit: LPI/ANGSA website
Superfluous but wonderful ALSJ & LROC imagery stuff pertaining to Station 3, specifically Ballet Crater:
Astronaut John W. Young, Apollo 16 mission commander, drives the "Rover", Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) to its final parking place near the end of the third extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Descartes landing site. Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot, took this photograph looking southward. The flank of Stone Mountain can be seen on the horizon at left. The shadow of the Lunar Module "Orion" is visible in the foreground.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS16-115-18559
Date: April 23, 1972
The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) gets a speed workout by astronaut John W. Young in the "Grand Prix" run during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Descartes landing site. This view is a frame from motion picture film exposed by a 16mm Maurer camera held by astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr. While astronauts Young, commander, and Duke, lunar module pilot, descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Orion" to explore the Descartes highlands region of the moon.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: S72-36970
Date: April 21, 1972
“Artist’s concept of the Apollo 17 LRV traverses at the leading site designated Taurus-Littrow on the southeastern rim of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity). During the 75-hour lunar surface staytime three 7-hour EVA’s are planned. Eva 1 is largely occupied with the deployment of the LRV, ALSEP, and other experiments, with about 2 hours available for a traverse. EVA’s 2 and 3 are largely devoted to the traverses. This section presents the details of the LRV traverses as currently planned. Astronauts Cernan, Evans and Schmitt are the prime crew for the December launch.”
Above per the verso of the black & white photo (linked to below)..
"An artist's concept illustrating the topographical layout of the Taurus-Littrow landing site of the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission. The Lunar Module touchdown point is in the center of the smooth area in the middle of the picture. The imposing mountain in the center is South Massif. A portion of North Massif is in the lower right corner of the photograph. Note the ridge-like feature extending from South Massif to North Massif. The southern portion of the ridge is called Lee Scarp and the northerly portion Lincoln Scarp. (This concept is by JSC artist Jerry Elmore)."
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo17/html/...
Above per "official" online source.
And finally:
"An artist's concept illustrating the topographical layout of the Taurus-Littrow landing site, depicting the traverses planned on the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission using the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The Roman numerals indicate the three periods of Extravehicular Activity (EVA). The Arabic numbers represent the station stops. The mountain in the center of the picture is South Massif. A portion of North Massif is in the lower right corner of the photograph. The names of some of the craters are: Camelot (at Station 5); Emory (nearest Station 1); Sherlock (at station 10); Steno (between Emory and Sherlock); Amundsen (at Station 2); Lara (at Station 3); Henry (nearest Station 6); Shakespeare (nearest Station 9); Cochise (nearest Station 8); and Powell (halfway between Camelot and Emory). Note the ridge-like feature extending from Station 2 to North Massif. The southern portion of the ridge is called Lee Scarp; and the Northerly portion is Lincoln Scarp. This concept is by MSC artist Jerry Elmore."
Also an "official" description.
Fantastic LROC view from a fairly similar perspective:
lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/M192703697LR_thumb.png
Annotated:
lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/M192703697LR_thumb_anot.png
Full article:
Credit: LROC/ASU website
This frame from Jim Irwin's 8 o'clock (southeast) pan shows the southeast portion of the Lunar Module (LM). The dark gray doors cover the Scientific Equipment (SEQ) Bay. The fuel cask is in the down position at the left of the SEQ Bay doors. Note the wrinkling of the plume deflector. The dome removal tool and the attached dome are next to the minus-Y (south) strut. The fuel-element extraction tool is at the lower left. To the left of the LM in the distance, Dave Scott has moved away from the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) into the ALSEP deployment site.
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation’s (GAEC) memorable (to some of us) lunar Mobility Test Article (MTA) concept, ca. 1967/68. The vehicle was a single-seat design with an articulated chassis. Designed to meet various NASA requirements, evolutionary derivations of it could be assembled in various configurations, and operated by remote control as well.
And, thanks to Edward G. Markow, those exotic/shit-hot "elastic conoid shaped" wheels:
patents.google.com/patent/US3698461
Credit: Google Patents website
As I lament all too often, I’ve seen this exact photo – with the GAEC engineer/designer at the controls – before, with him identified. I’ll be damned if I can find it now/again. I’m quite sure as part of some sort of document, not a standalone image.
The photo was taken on the simulated lunar surface at Grumman's Calverton, New York, plant. What I assume to be the same LM is also in my linked MOLAB photo below. Speaking of…being a GAEC team player, the gentleman appears to be sporting a LM tie clasp.
www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-tie-clip-lunar-mod...
Credit: WorthPoint website
www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_US/apollo/vaisseaux/...
Credit: CAPCOM ESPACE website
And, from whom I paraphrased some of my description:
www.triangspacextoys.info/SpGAorig/MnBg_OrF/MnBg_OrP.html
Credit: Paul Vreede/SPACEX: GOLDEN ASTRONAUT website
"...It touches your human blood..." — Vulcan Kolinahr Master, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), played by Edna Glover (1925–2020)
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon
Also see: IMG_7975 We're all living with Rammstein
(I think) within, or as an evolution of NASA’s grand/grandiose “Integrated Program Plan”, incorporating the modularized multi-purpose “Space Tug” concept, a Lunar Surface Base is depicted in this possible 1971 artist’s concept.
The habitable shirtsleeve-environment module is in the foreground, with a/the cargo lander variant in the background. Further to the left is a cargo module, emplaced/partially buried along/within the ridge of the small lunar graben/rille(?). Behind the cargo module is a lunar drill. The lunar rover is of course, self-evident.
Artist unknown. Albert Lane maybe? Renato Moncini? Likely never to be determined? Yeah, that sounds about right.
A variant, and if the hand-annotated identification/year extrapolation is correct, a/the possible precursor of this depiction is featured as Figure 29 within the following document:
ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19700026519
Many wonderful artist’s concepts within the above can be found all over the place, with very little rhyme or reason actually. But hey, at least they’re out there.
The “Integrated Program Plan”. If you can’t trust David S. F. Portree, who can you trust WRT this stuff:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/thinking-big-traf...
Credit: David S. F. Portree/”No Shortage of Dreams” blogspot
Before loading it with scientific exploration equipment, Commander Eugene Cernan took the Lunar Roving Vehicle on its first Apollo 17 checkout drive. The Boeing Company working with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center designed the rover to be lightweight yet strong enough to carry as much equipment as possible.
Image credit: NASA
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
The Lunar Roving Vehicle is photographed alone against the lunar background during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. This view is looking north. The west edge of Mount Hadley is at the upper right edge of the picture. Mount Hadley is at the upper right edge of the picture. It rises approximately 4,500 meters (about 14,765 feet) above the plain. The most distant lunar feature visible is approximately 25 kilometers (about 15.5 statute miles) away.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: AS15-88-11901
Date: August 1, 1971
In this ca. 1971/72 artist’s concept, Astronauts on the moon, in the vicinity of a lunar base, are depicted doing all kinds of cool stuff.
Although there's no signature, it has a sort of Robert McCall look to it.
7.875” x 10”.
“APOLLO 16 LANDING SITE-----An artist’s concept illustrating an eastward view of the Apollo 16 Descartes landing site. The white overlay indicates the scheduled traverses by the Apollo 16 astronauts in the Lunar Roving Vehicle. The Roman numerals are the EVAs: and the Arabic numbers are the station stops along the traverses. The Descartes landing area is generally west of the Sea of Nectar and southwest of the Sea of Tranquility. The LRV traverses extend northward to the Smokey Mountains near Station 14 and southward to Stone Mountain near Station 4. Astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot, will descend in the Lunar Module to the lunar surface to explore the Descartes landing site, while Astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly II, command module pilot, will remain with the Command and Service Modules in lunar orbit.”
Let’s face it, out of the Apollo “J” missions, the Apollo 16 Descartes Highlands landing site was by far the least visually interesting. Other than ‘House Rock’ & North Ray crater, it was pretty dull.
Did that contribute to this being basically nonexistent online? Although it is buried & languishing at the following decremented long-defunct website. Although grateful, I’m appalled that, pathetically, THIS is still the only place I find low-resolution images, with their ID numbers. In fact, multiple nice images ‘exist’ within this untended gravesite. Sad:
science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS16/10075...
science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS16/10075...
Although I assume there was one, I don’t even remember the Tang poster for this landing site…or that I even had it…whereas I clearly recall having Apollo 15 & 17. That’s pretty bad…I feel sorta guilty.
Very nice artwork by NASA artist Jerry L. Elmore, responsible for the Apollo 15 & 17 depictions as well.
Apollo 17 Commander Eugene A. Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison H. Jack Schmitt are preparing the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) and the Communications Relay Unit (LCRU) mission simulation. Support Team Astronaut Gordon Fullerton, standing, left, discusses test procedures to be performed in the High Bay of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB). The Lunar Module Ascent and Descent stages also receive preflight checkout in preparation for the sixth U.S. manned lunar landing mission.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 72PC-0412
Date: August 8, 1972
“Here’s the way astronauts will get around on the moon in the 1970s and 1980s. The flying machine at left will carry one man and 370 pounds of equipment a distance of 10 to 15 miles at a speed of 100 mph. The four-wheeled lunar roving vehicle (lower right) will be used for short trips within 18 miles of a spacecraft or lunar base. The heavy-duty six-wheeled vehicle at top has rechargeable batteries and will carry men and cargo up to 30 miles.”
More commonly/almost exclusively seen, although still seldomly, as Plate 9: “Mobility Aids” within Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation’s (GAEC) gorgeous & coveted “LUNAR MODULE DERIVATIVES For Future Space Missions” presentation packet/portfolio.
I’m just gonna throw this out there. Compare (not even contrast) with the linked image below, which is subsequent to this one. Without naming names, I cannot imagine, even remotely, that the artist of the linked image would’ve copied or emulated the earlier work of another artist. Finally, consider the lines, style & overall ‘look’ of not only this, but the rest of the plates within the aforementioned packet/portfolio.
The gallery containing ten of (I think) a total of thirteen is linked to as well.
However, when I think/see something lunar from this time period...from GAEC, I automatically think Craig Kavafes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The affixed newspaper article I presume associated with it. Yet another could’ve/should’ve been:
“The pinpoint landing of Apollo 12 brought NASA’s plans for bases and colonies on the moon closer to reality. It went a long way toward proving that a number of spacecraft can be landed close together at a predetermined site on the lunar surface—close enough to join them to form shelters, workshops and laboratories.
NASA engineers are already working on plans for moon colonies inhabited by as many 50 to 100 people.
“A lunar colony like this will evolve from the temporary bases we establish with two men on each Apollo flight,” says Andre “Andy” Meyers Jr., manager of the lunar exploration project office at the Manned Spacecraft Center. A soft-spoken, self-termed “dreamer,” Meyers has been working on designs for moon housing for four years.
“When you’re talking about 50 or 100 people living and working on the moon,” he says, “that’s a ways downstream. First, a lot of other things have to happen.
“We must find a means of making space vehicles that will serve several purposed. They have to be able to orbit earth and the moon. They have to be the same basic structure that will eventually take a crew of six to Mars. They have to be used to land men and supplies on the moon and to serve as our first moon station.
[missing text]…will be nonnuclear. As the base expands, nuclear power would be brought into use. More conventional electrical and chemical systems still will be needed to power remote sites and for emergency use, as well as for scientists traveling over the lunar surface and conducting experiments away from the base.
The first bases will probably be established above ground, with covered passageways linking modules brought to the moon in separate flights. Each module will serve a separate function—one or two for crew quarters, one for growing food, another as the power station. In these early versions, men will probably stay on the moon for 30, 60, or 90 days.”
Very nicely composed Boeing artist’s depiction, featuring the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), highlighting the Apollo Astronauts’ enhanced/extended capability to explore the lunar surface using it. Here, the Mission Commander, i.e., “driver”, has commenced collecting lunar samples shortly after departing the Lunar Module (LM). The Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) is seen zeroing in the high-gain antenna on earth, allowing Ed Fendell to assume control of the Ground Commanded Television camera, thus providing us the amazing color television imagery of their Extravehicular Activity (EVA).
8.75” x 11”. The size of the photographic paper exceeded the width of the scanner bed, hence the cut-off appearance along one side.
Another WIN. Athough minimum information is available, other than a superlative B-17 scene at least, the artist is Mr. Gene Erickson.
Wonderful Boeing artist’s concept, featuring the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), depicting Apollo Astronauts’ enhanced capability to explore using the vehicle.
Another WIN, although there’s not much on him, other than a fantastic B-17 scene he depicted, the artist being Mr. Gene Erickson.
BONUS: The image was featured on the cover of the - in my world - popular, semi-iconic & rather desirable Boeing/NASA LRV booklet “SPACECRAFT WITH WHEELS”.
“ASTRONAUTS EMBARK ON LUNAR EXPLORATION”
The fifth of five gorgeous renderings of Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) deployment by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (GAEC)/Grumman Aerospace Corporation (GAC) master artist Craig Kavafes.
Also:
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/alsj-LRVDeployGrumman.html
Specifically:
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/S71-38190HR.jpg
Both above credit: ALSJ website
I love the ALSJ; however, although it's not my place, I take issue with the poor choice (IMHO) of the term…”cartoons” and the “sigh” remark. “Sigh”, “UGH” and a host of other vulgar & disparaging sounds befit most NASA attempts at any ‘attempt/effort’ regarding image preservation, description, presentation, cataloging, etc., etc., etc. Not the fact that this doesn't represent actual candidate landing site topography.
I’m okay with a little dramatic terrain. I’m also thankful they have it & shared it!
Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 astronauts helped test the Lunar Roving Vehicle deployment system at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the NASA center responsible for designing and testing the rover.
Image credit: NASA
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
An extraordinary lunar panorama at geology Station 4, Shorty Crater, was photographed as Geologist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt explored the moon using the Lunar Roving Vehicle developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. This was the area where Schmitt discovered unusual orange soil.
Image credit: NASA
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
(I think) within, or as an evolution of NASA’s grand/grandiose “Integrated Program Plan”, incorporating the modularized multi-purpose “Space Tug” concept, a Lunar Surface Base is depicted in this possible 1971 artist’s concept.
The habitable shirtsleeve-environment module is in the foreground, with a Lunar Roving Vehicle arriving/parked near an ALSEP-like lunar surface experiments package layout. I really don’t know what the two Astronauts immediately to the right of the base are doing. Collecting samples? The guy on the left does appear to be holding something that looks a lot like an ALSRC. Although, I swear the other guy looks like he’s holding a cable reel ‘dispenser’, like those used to set up comms lines during WWII & the Korean ‘conflict’. Based on a series of images posted to this image hosting ‘service’ by Michel Van (linked to below), the bicycle-stand looking thing is a drilling rig. The other two guys further out look to maybe be setting up a communications/communications relay antenna. There’s even a Lunar Orbit Station overhead…I think. Finally, the little fella on the left, possibly leaning on the landing gear strut, may need to checked on.
No watermark, although it looks & feels like "A KODAK PAPER". A large area of the surface of photographic paper on the verso - lower left when looking at the image - was ripped off at some point. Fortunately, it didn’t reach the surface, although the thinner paper exhibits visible undulations.
Artist unknown. Albert Lane maybe? Renato Moncini? Likely never to be determined? Yeah, unfortunately, that sounds about right.
Other wonderful artist’s concepts at the following can be found all over the place, with very little rhyme or reason actually. But hey, at least they’re out there:
ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19700026519
The “Integrated Program Plan”. If you can’t trust David S. F. Portree, who can you trust WRT this stuff:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/thinking-big-traf...
Credit: David S. F. Portree/”No Shortage of Dreams” blogspot
Description: The flame from the Apollo 16 Lunar Module "Orion" ascent stage engine creates a kaleidoscope effect during lunar liftoff, as seen in this screen capture taken from a color television transmission made by the RCA color TV camera mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Liftoff from the lunar surface was at 175 hours 44 minutes ground elapsed time, 7:26 p.m., April 23, 1972.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: S72-35613
Date: April 23, 1972
Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan holds the lower end of the double core tube, containing Sample No. 70031, up to the RCA Ground-Commanded Television Assembly (GCTA) mounted to the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Cernan had just collected and extracted the core tubes at Geology Station No. 3, near Lara Crater during the crew’s second Extravehicular Activity (EVA) in the Taurus Littrow valley.
Image source:
www.lpi.usra.edu/ANGSA/samples/video-2.mp4
Credit: LPI/ANGSA website
South Massif is in the distance.
The slightly irregular upper outline of the rover’s right rear fender is due to the Astronauts’ makeshift repair to it. Even the angular shape of the LM clamp used to facilitate the repair is discernible.
Apollo 16 crew Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) "license plate" Letter/Certificate of Appreciation, most likely presented to NASA/Boeing personnel involved in its successful second deployment/employment in the Descartes highlands.
8.5" x 11", on heavier weight paper.
So, there’s one of these for Apollo 15/LRV-001, and this one (Apollo 16/LRV-002). However, I’ve NEVER seen anything similar for Apollo 17/LRV-003. If such exists, it must be EXCEEDINGLY rare/scarce.
During the heady “shoot for the moon” days of 1966, an Apollo Applications Program (AAP) concept for a LEM Shelter.
Per the 1966 “Future National Space Objectives: Staff Study for the Subcommittee on NASA Oversight of the Committee on Science and Astronautics U.S. House of Representatives, Eighty-Ninth Congress, Second Session, Serial O”:
“…The LEM shelter is an Apollo LEM modified by removing the ascent propulsion system and adding subsystem extensions and expendables to enable it to make unmanned lunar landings, to standby in a stored condition for a period up to 3 months and to shelter and support two men for an operational period up to 14 days. Equipment such as a small, manned lunar roving vehicle, a manned flying system, a lunar drill and scientific instruments could be added to support the lunar exploration program.”
The above, along with a representative diagram, can be found on “page 111”, along with other ambitious proposals throughout the document, at:
books.google.com/books?id=g0IVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA113&l...
Credit: Google Books website
So, a drill, a rover, but still no ladder. I'd think a subsequent Astronaut would still need to ingress, through the obvious hatch...to...idk...offload additional stowed exploratory gear & equipment, rations maybe, or even possibly internally enable release mechanisms for the rover & drill? And it looks like the callout for what appears to be a line directed at the ascent stage was either forgotten or omitted. Possibly at the last minute?
Neither here nor there I suppose, since it never happened.
Most important is the artist - Rosemary Dobbins. I respectfully urge you to take a closer look at her works to appreciate their significance.
BTW, Rosemary Dobbins’ daughter: YOU’RE WELCOME.
Im Jahr 1972 fand mit Apollo 17 der bisher letzte bemannte Flug zum Mond statt. Aber offenbar war der Hype auch 1975 noch nicht wieder abgeklungen, und so warf LEGO® dieses Set auf den Markt, das dann auch in meiner Sammlung landete.
Es ist so allerhand enthalten. Die Mondlandefähre selbst neben drei Astronauten, dem Lunar Roving Vehicle (dem Mondauto), dem Sternenbanner und einigen seltsamen Gegenständen, die wohl der Erforschung des Mondes dienten. Insgesamt 364 Teile, ganz schön viele für damalige Verhältnisse.
Die Mondlandefähre lässt sich für den Rückflug in Richtung Erde von dem vierbeinigen Dingsda trennen. Der Zusammenbau des zerklüfteten Ungetüms ist übrigens gar nicht so ganz einfach, da muss man schon ziemlich genau in die Anleitung gucken. Warum ist das Ding eigentlich schon wieder blau? Unterm Strich kann ich mich nicht erinnern, sonderlich oft mit dem Modell gespielt zu haben. Die LEGO®-Stadt auf der Erde lag mir irgendwie näher.
The Apollo 17 capsule and crew splashed down at 2:25 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 1972. The mission marked the longest Apollo mission, 504 hours, and the longest lunar surface stay time, 75 hours, which allowed the astronauts to conduct extensive geological investigations. They collected 257 pounds (117 kilograms) of lunar samples with the help of the Lunar Roving Vehicle developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Image credit: NASA
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or
promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
RCA artist’s concept, possibly depicting Apollo 16 Commander John Young tending to the Ground Commanded Television Assembly (GCTA), manufactured by RCA.
The identification as Apollo 16 is based on a much more knowledgeable source’s identification as such. The terrain in the background should be a clue, but it really isn’t. I originally thought it was Apollo 15, with an undersized St. George crater on the slope of Mons Hadley Delta. Frankly, the Apollo 16 landing site, other than having relief, is not particularly distinguishable, so I suppose maybe that’s Stone Mountain in the background. But, I don’t recall a conspicuous single crater like that on it. The background could also loosely pass for Taurus-Littrow I guess. That ‘mountain’ being one of the Massifs, but again, that lone crater throws that off. Realistically, I bet the artist wasn’t even trying to represent whatever landing site it is. It’s the television camera and its related equipment that mattered in this depiction.
Other than that ambiguity, it’s really a very nice work by Rudy Baum, apparently/possibly an RCA artist.
“Astronauts James B. Irwin and David R. Scott drive the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) from the lunar training area after completing an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) time line study. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s fourth manned lunar landing mission Apollo 15 with the selected Hadley-Apennine site some 465 miles north of the lunar equator as the target point and will use the LRV to traverse the surface during the three planned expeditions during the 67 hour stay. The flight crew members are astronauts David R. Scott, commander; James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot; and Alfred M. Worden, Jr., command module pilot.”
Until fairly recently, my first & only exposure to this near identical photo. Fond memories. My parents bought it for me...from Kmart...along with the delicious pre-packaged subs available at the entrance/exit to the store. Of course I still have it...the film, that is:
www.depop.com/products/35mm-apollo-15-super8-cine-film/
Credit: Depop website
Taken a moment after/before:
images.nasa.gov/details-S71-39867
The covered/capped(?) cylindrical looking thing on the right looks like a designated Apollo Lunar Surface Drill testing area. I wonder if the substrata there was filled, compacted or whatever, in such a way as to simulate that expected at the actual landing site? Would make sense, wouldn't it?. Or maybe it's just a sprinkler valve/control/junction box. Oh wait...1971, it’s gotta be a ‘butt can’...yeah, that’s it.
If indeed the former, unfortunately, I don't think it fully prepared Scott for his Herculean drilling battles on the moon:
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15carrier.html
Credit: ALSJ/David Carrier