53 years ago, on this day, Apollo 15 put the first car on the Moon, which was constructed by Mieczysław Bekker, a Polish engineer.
Mieczysław Grzegorz Bekker was born in Strzyżów, near Hrubieszów in May 25, 1905. From an early age he was distinguished by mathematical abilities. After passing the Matura exam, he began studies at the Warsaw Polytechnic. The choice of young Bekker fell to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
When NASA has announced a vehicle design competition that could navigate the Moon as part of the Apollo mission General Motors turned to Professor Mieczysław Bekker to develop such a construction. It was in 1961. Eight years later the winner was chosen. It was the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), whose entire technical solutions allowing for movement were authored by Mieczysław Bekker.
For the first time this vehicle touched the surface of the Moon on July 30, 1971. During the Apollo 15 mission three rides were held. In total the astronauts beat 27.9 km in the LRV with an average speed of 9.2 and a maximum of 14 km/h. The second LRV during Apollo 16 defeated 27.1 km and the third (Apollo 17) 36.1 km. All three vehicles remained on the Moon. One more LRV was produced but unfortunately due to the interruption of the flight program to the silver globe it has never left the Earth.
Bekker’s electric vehicle had a range of up to one hundred kilometres and could carry up to 500 kilos of cargo (taking into consideration the Moon’s gravity). It could fold in half and had room for two astronauts. In recognition of Bekker’s contributions to space travel, his name is part of the Space Walk of Fame Museum in Titusville, Florida.
Source:
https://steemit.com/news/@szrociak/is-elon-musk-s-tesla-the-first-car-in-space-no
https://culture.pl/en/article/out-there-7-poles-who-advanced-space-travel
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/first-car-moon-180977805/
