Word: rovers
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...those that watched the lift-off of the first moon-landing expedition just over two years ago. Isolated in their crew area, Scott, Irwin and Command-Module Pilot Al Worden practiced maneuvers on Apollo flight simulators, underwent extensive medical examinations, took spins in a terrestrial version of their moon rover and reviewed the myriad details of their lengthy flight plans in the final hours of the countdown. Even the Russians helped. In response to NASA's inquiries, Soviet space officials assured the U.S. that the recent deaths of three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were not the result...
...Taos, N. Mex., which they resemble; instead, the canyons may be the result of lava flows. To help settle the argument, the astronauts plan to drive part way down the slope, which begins at a relatively gentle incline of about 10°. As the going gets rougher for the rover, they may leave it behind and walk the rest of the way into the rille. Later, the astronauts will drive to North Complex, a collection of craters and hummocks that may be an indication of relatively recent volcanic activity on the moon...
...example of sheer technological innovation, however, nothing aboard Apollo 15 quite beats NASA's new I.RV (for Lunar Roving Vehicle), more commonly known as the "moon rover." Tucked away in the side of Falcon, the collapsible, 10-ft.-long jumble of aluminum tubing, wire and rods might easily be mistaken for a Rube Goldbergian version of an old-fashioned foldaway Murphy bed. Actually, it is one of the most unusual and expensive cars ever built (cost of the moon buggy program: $37.8 million...
...Though it will not range more than five miles from the lunar lander, the rover includes enough navigational gear (a gyroscope, an odometer and a computer) that the astronauts should always know their location in relation to the lunar module. Scott and Irwin may find the equipment extremely helpful: last February, the Apollo 14 astronauts became so confused by the moon's baffling, undulating terrain that they briefly lost their bearings...
...three cosmonauts aboard the Soviet Union's huge Salyut spacecraft last week seemed exuberant, there was good reason. In the past few weeks the Soviet space program has enjoyed a remarkable string of successes. Even while the cosmonauts performed their orbital acrobatics, the rugged little unmanned Russian moon rover, Lunokhod, came back to life and resumed its patrols for the eighth consecutive two-week-long lunar day. Farther out in space, two Russian spacecraft were racing their smaller American counterpart, Mariner 9, to the planet Mars. But the attention of the world was focused on the orbiting cosmonauts...