Apollo 15 was the first Apollo mission to use a lunar rover during astronaut exploration.
The battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle was deployed by David Scott and James Irwin in July 1971. It allowed the astronauts to travel much farther from their lunar module than crews on earlier landing missions could walk, expanding the scientific area they could examine.
Apollo 15’s rover covered about 27.8 kilometres over three excursions. The vehicle was designed for the Moon’s low gravity and was folded into a compartment on the lunar module Falcon. Lunar rovers were then also used on Apollo 16 and Apollo 17.