Lunokhod 1 was the first successful robotic rover to operate on another world.
The Soviet Union’s Luna 17 mission delivered Lunokhod 1 to the Moon on 17 November 1970. The rover was remotely controlled from Earth and traveled across the lunar surface while transmitting photographs and scientific measurements. Its operators had to account for communication delays and the rover’s limited visibility.
Lunokhod 1 carried television cameras, a laser reflector, a penetrometer, and instruments for studying lunar soil and radiation. It was powered partly by solar energy during lunar daylight and protected from the extreme lunar night by a radioactive-heating system.
The rover’s achievement predates NASA’s Mars rovers by decades. Sojourner became the first rover on Mars in 1997, but Lunokhod 1 reached and operated on another world earlier. Lunokhod 2 later followed in 1973 and traveled substantially farther.