Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott becomes first human to drive a wheeled vehicle on the Moon’s surface 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 31 1971)


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(Saturday, July 31, 1971, 11:20 a.m. EDT)Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott became the first persons to drive a wheeled vehicle on the surface of the Moon today with astronaut James Irwin riding along as a passenger.

The two men drove a four-wheel, battery-run vehicle along the rim of a mile-wide canyon and to the edge of a deep crater in search of rocks from the Moon’s primeval crust.

From the crater’s slope, Scott and Irwin transmitted spectacular color television pictures of the lunar vistas, the canyon depths of Hadley Rille, the undulating plain of the Marsh of Decay and the rounded peaks of the Apennine Mountains in the distance.


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They covered some five miles and spent 6 hours and 34 minutes outside their landing craft, Falcon.

The two astronauts awoke to begin their day or explorations at 5:00 a.m. EDT, less than 11 hours after their July 30, 1971, lunar landing at 6:16 p.m. EDT. They had slept about five hours.

They had opened the landing craft’s hatch at 9:15 a.m. EDT and closed and sealed it again at 3:49 p.m. EDT.