Lunokhod 1 was the first of two robotic lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The Luna 17 spacecraft carried Lunokhod 1 to the Moon in 1970.
Lunokhod 1 was the first remote-controlled robot “rover” to freely move across the surface of an astronomical object beyond the Earth. It was also the first wheeled craft on another celestial body. Lunokhod 0 (No.201), the previous and first attempt to do so, launched in February 1969 but failed to reach orbit.
Although only designed for a lifetime of three lunar days (approximately three Earth months), Lunokhod-1 operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days (321 Earth days) and traversed a total distance of 10.54 km.
The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet manned Moon missions during the Moon race. Instead, they were used as remote-controlled robots for exploration of the lunar surface and return its pictures after the successful Apollo manned lunar landings and cancellation of the Soviet manned Moon programme.
by: Alexey Ryabov
