Apollo 15 was the first NASA mission to use a lunar rover, deploying the Lunar Roving Vehicle during its 1971 landing mission.
The mission launched on July 26, 1971, with David Scott, James Irwin, and Alfred Worden. Scott and Irwin drove the battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle across the Hadley–Apennine region, allowing them to travel much farther from the lunar module than earlier crews could walk.
The rover carried tools, cameras, communications equipment, and scientific instruments. Its mobility helped the astronauts collect samples from varied geological locations, including terrain near Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountains. Apollo 15 also deployed the first lunar subsatellite from the service module.
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to land humans on the Moon; Apollo 11 holds that distinction. Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 also used lunar rovers, but Apollo 15 introduced the vehicle to crewed lunar exploration. The rover’s success influenced later ideas for robotic and crewed planetary vehicles.