Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 50th Anniversary of Luna 17 & Lunokhod 1
17 November 1970: The
Luna 17 probe landed on the Moon & deployed the rover
Lunokhod 1 ("Moonwalker 1"); the probes lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a
Proton 8K82K rocket on 10 November & entered lunar orbit on 15 November;
Lunokhod 1 was the first remotely-controlled rover & traversed over ten kilometers 'til 14 September 1971, eleven lunar days.
Commentary: A lunar day is approximately twenty-nine & a half Earth days (29:12:44:13); the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, meaning it completes one rotation on its axis & one revolution around the Earth in the same period. Lunokhod 1
was originally planned for a three lunar-day mission, but much like the 21st century twin Spirit
& Opportunity
Mars Exploration Rovers, endured long past its original mission.Semper exploro.
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