Lunokhod 1

Lunokhod 1 was a Soviet robotic lunar rover, also catalogued as Device 8EL No. 203, and the first robotic rover to operate on the Moon. It was also the first vehicle to move freely across the surface of an astronomical object beyond the Earth. The Luna 17 spacecraft carried it to the Moon in 1970, and it formed part of the Soviet Lunokhod program of robotic rovers. An earlier attempt, Lunokhod 0, launched in February 1969 but failed to reach Earth orbit. Lunokhod 1 was designed for a working life of only three lunar days, roughly three Earth months, but it operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days, which is 321 Earth days, and travelled a total of 10.54 km. The rover weighed 756 kg on its own and was launched on a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Its Russian name means Moonwalker 1.