20th Century NASA History: Moon Buggy, the Apollo Lunar Rover, Lunar Roving Vehicle Operations Handbook

Here is the reproduction of the historic Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) Operations Handbook. The Lunar Rover was used with spectacular success on the last three Apollo lunar landing missions, Apollo 15, 16, and 17 – the "J" missions.

The handbook describes the LRV this way: "The LRV is a four-wheeled, self-propelled, manually controlled vehicle to be used for transporting crewmen and equipment on the lunar surface. The vehicle has accommodations for two crewmen and the stowed auxiliary equipment designed for the particular mission. The LRV system is comprised of the Mobility Subsystem, Electrical Power Subsystem, Control and Display console, Navigation Subsystem, Crew Station, Thermal Control Subsystem, and Space Support Equipment."

This handbook, prepared by the LRV contractor Boeing, provides complete information on this fantastic little "moon buggy" that made the last Apollo landings unique:

Vehicle systems, mobility subsystem, electrical power subsystem, control and display console, navigation subsystem, crew station, thermal control, space support equipment

Normal procedures: Unloading and chassis deployment, post-deployment checkout, payload loading, pre-sortie checkout, LRV configuration for science stop, display reading sequence and time intervals, special procedures, malfunction procedures, other contingencies

Auxiliary equipment, forward chassis payload provisions, center chassis, and rear chassis

Operating limitations – payload limitations, parking limitations, sortie limitations, navigation system

Operating timelines, profiles – LRV and 1g trainer

1G trainer non-crew procedures

Contains over 115 line drawings and technical illustrations, along with nine tables.