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Lunokhod 1 Moon Rover
Credit: NASA
On November 17, 1970 the Soviet Luna 17 spacecraft landed the first roving remote-controlled robot on the Moon. Known as Lunokhod 1, it weighed just under 2,000 pounds and was designed to operate for 90 days while guided by a 5-person team on planet Earth at the Deep Space Center near Moscow, USSR. Lunokhod 1 actually toured the lunar Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) for 11 months in one of the greatest successes of the Soviet lunar exploration program.
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NASA's First Lunar Rover
Credit: NASA
Astronaut James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) on August 1, 1971, at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The first Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) on the moon, stands to the right.
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Rove On
Credit: NASA
Apollo 15 launched on July 26, 1971. In this photograph, Apollo 15 lunar module pilot Jim Irwin loads the lunar rover with gear in preparation for the first lunar spacewalk at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The lunar module "Falcon"stands at the left in this image. The undeployed Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector lies on top of Falcon's Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly.
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Lunar Rover Stands Alone
Credit: NASA
Apollo 15 Commander Dave Scott photographed the Lunar Rover at the end of the last EVA.
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Apollo 17 Lunar Rover Drive
Credit: NASA
Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene A. Cernan makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity at the Taurus-Littrow landing site in 1972.
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Lunokhod 2 Moon Rover
Credit: NASA
The Soviet Union's remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 moon rover traveled 23 miles (37 kilometers) across the lunar surface in 1973 — still the record for greatest distance traveled on the surface of another world.
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Rover Lunokhod
Credit: NASA
NASA's LRO recently discovered the Russian Robotic rover Lunokhod 1 that landed on the moon in 1970 and vanished from detection in September 1971.
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Deep Space 1's Comet Flyby
Credit: NASA
Artist's concept of NASA's Deep Space 1 probe approaching Comet 19P/Borrelly in September 2001. Deep Space 1, which launched in 1998, was the first NASA craft to use electric propulsion beyond Earth orbit.
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Deep Space 1 in Cleanroom
Credit: NASA
Deep Space 1, the first spacecraft to use ion propulsion as its main engine beyond Earth orbit, being assembled.
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NASA's Sojourner Mars Rover
Credit: NASA
NASA's 25-pound Sojourner Mars rover covered about 330 feet (100 meters) over 83 days on the Red Planet in 1997.
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Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers
Credit: NASA/JPL
NASA's twin golf-cart-size rovers Spirit and Opportunity touched down on Mars in January 2004.
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Trapped Mars Rover Finds Signs of Buried Martian Water in Recent Past
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University
This mosaic of images shows the dirt in front of NASA's Mars rover Spirit, after the rover got stuck and made a series of short drives to try to extricate itself in January and February 2010. Spirit analyzed the dirt, finding evidence that water trickled through it in the relatively recent past.
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Opportunity Rover Self-Portrait From 2007
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) during the mission's sols 1282 and 1284 (Sept. 2 and Sept. 4, 2007) to take the images combined into this mosaic view of the rover. The downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted. Image released Feb. 17, 2012.
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Shadow Self-Portrait by Opportunity at Endeavour Crater
Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this view of its afternoon shadow stretching into Endeavour Crater during the 3,051st Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars on Aug. 23, 2012.
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Opportunity Rover Breaks US Driving Record
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On the 3,309th Martian day, or sol, of its mission on Mars (May 15, 2013) NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove 263 feet (80 meters) southward along the western rim of Endeavour Crater, bringing its total Red Planet odometry to 22.22 miles (35.76 kilometers).
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Curiosity Rover Self-Portrait at Drill Site
Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer
The 1-ton Curiosity rover touched down on Mars in August 2012. This self-portrait, composed of more than 50 images taken by Curiosity's MAHLI camera on Feb. 3, 2013, shows the rover at the John Klein drill site. A drill hole is visible at bottom left.
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Curiosity Panorama at John Klein Drill Site
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer
This panorama showing Curiosity at the John Klein drill site is composed of more than 20 images the rover took with its navigation cameras on March 23, 2013.
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Mars Rover Curiosity Studying Outcrop
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
This mosaic, stitched together from more than 40 raw images taken Jan. 25-26, 2013, shows NASA's Mars rover Curiosity at the John Klein drill site with arm deployed and massive Mt. Sharp in the background.
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Three Generations of Mars Rovers in Mars Yard
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This grouping of two test rovers and a flight spare provides a graphic comparison of three generations of Mars rovers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The setting is JPL's Mars Yard testing area. At center is the flight spare for the first Mars rover, Sojourner, which landed on Mars in 1997 as part of the Mars Pathfinder Project. On the left is a Mars Exploration Rover Project test rover that is a working sibling to Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004. On the right is a Mars Science Laboratory test rover the size of that project's Mars rover, Curiosity, which landed on Mars in August 2012.
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Off-Planet Driving Records
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This chart illustrates comparisons among the distances driven by various wheeled vehicles on the surface of Earth's moon and Mars.
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Hayabusa Infographic
Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com
Electric propulsion powered Japan's Hayabusa probe, which launched in May 2003 and returned pieces of the asteroid Itokawa to Earth in June 2010.
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Hayabusa's Fiery Return
Credit: A. Ikeshita/MEF/ISAS
A small capsule containing dust from the asteroid Itokawa touched down in June 2010 at the Woomera test range in the Australian Outback. Launched in May 2003, Hayabusa suffered a host of technical problems.
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How NASA's Dawn Asteroid Mission Works (Infographic)
Credit: Karl Tate/SPACE.com
NASA's Dawn probe is using electric propulsion to visit the two largest objects in the asteroid belt.
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Dawn Leaves Protoplanet Vesta
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived at the giant asteroid Vesta in July 2011 and departed in September 2012 to head to the dwarf planet Ceres.
