dsc50226.jpg

The sign accompanying the LRV. It reads

Lunar Rover Trainer

Artifact on loan from the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Rovers were taken to the Moon's surface - and left there each time - on the last three Apollo missions. Astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin (Apollo 15), John Young and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), and Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17), practiced in this Lunar Rover Trainer here in Houston in preparation for their Apollo missions.

Since it was not needed on the Moon's airless surface, the rover had no steering wheel or brakes. It was started, steered, and stopped by a single control located between the two seats. The electric-powered rover could travel at almost 10 mph and had a range of about 55 miles. It was equipped with a TV camera, which recorded the astronauts' exploration of the moon and liftoff of the top half of the Lunar Module when the astronauts left the moon.