Chapter 2 of 8

The wheels unfold

Launch on 26 July, Falcon landing on 30 July, and rover deployment on 31 July 1971

Told in Apollo 15 Rover’s imagined voice · the events are real · source

AS15-86-11601 (31 July 1971) --- Astronaut James B.
Apollo 15 RoverOn July 26, 1971, I left Earth as folded equipment aboard Apollo 15.
NASA/JSC
01David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden travelled with the mission. On July 30, Scott and Irwin landed Falcon at Hadley-Apennine. Worden remained in lunar orbit. The rover had not driven a metre yet.
On July 31, Scott and Irwin opened my place in the lander.
02Reels, pulleys, ropes and cloth tapes controlled deployment. The chassis and wheels unfolded and locked as the vehicle was lowered. NSSDCA warns that its early deployment artwork does not exactly reproduce the final flight sequence.
View of a photograph of the television (TV) monitor in the MCC showing a picture being transmitted from the color TV camera mounted on the parked Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) at the Hadley-Apennine Landing Site showing the
Apollo 15 RoverSeats rose. Footrests rose. A packed machine became a vehicle.
NASA/JSC
03The astronauts removed deployment hardware, raised the seats and footrests, and switched on the electronics. I was being prepared to carry people, not to choose my own route. Scott would operate the hand controller.
The first test drive should have been a beginning. A steering fault made it a puzzle.
04Scott became the first person to drive on the Moon. But during checkout, the crew found that the front steering was not working. The rover had another steering system. Could the first excursion still go ahead?

The big idea

Folding mechanisms and controlled deployment turn launch packaging into working surface hardware. Checkout reveals which systems are actually available.

Think about it

What would you test before taking a newly unfolded vehicle away from its lander?

In this chapter: Falcon equipment bay, deployment reels and tapes, locking chassis and crew controller

Sources: Main record · The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle · NSSDCA · Apollo 15 Lunar Module / ALSEP · NSSDCA

Machine illustration: AI-made. Photos: NASA Image and Video Library, credited on each picture.

Chapter 2 of 8

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