Lego is set to unveil a detailed model of NASA’s original “rock and roll ride”, the electric car used by the last three Apollo crews to explore the moon.
The new Lego Technic “NASA Apollo Lunar Rover – LRV” set will be available in Lego stores on August 1.
“Take a journey to the moon with this detailed Lego Technic NASA model set for adults. The set includes a displayable model version of the lunar rover module carried by Apollo 17, as well as three wearable equipment sets,” Lego’s website says.
A natural follow-up to Lego’s previously released Saturn V rocket and Apollo 11 lunar module, LRV (set no. 42182) contains 1,913 pieces and is available now for $219.99 (€219.99 or £189.99) from Lego’s online store ) can be pre-ordered. .
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Lego NASA Apollo Lunar Rover: Pre-Order for $219 on Lego.com
Recreate Apollo’s lunar exploration program with this detailed Lego Technic set for adults. The Apollo Lunar Rover set includes a displayable model version of the lunar rover module carried to the moon by Apollo 17, packed with authentic details. View Deal
After successfully landing two crews on the moon in 1969, NASA sought a way to expand the distance astronauts could travel to further explore the surrounding lunar terrain. At first, the agency tried using a rickshaw-like vehicle (called a Modularized Equipment Transporter, or MET) to increase the number of tools that could be transported to more remote areas, but the hand-pulled cart proved difficult to move.
What the astronauts really needed was a powered vehicle, which Boeing delivered by working with GM (General Motors) and Goodyear. The Apollo Lunar Rover (LRV) ultimately allowed Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt to travel as far as 4.7 miles (7.6 kilometers) from the lunar module. (Distance was still limited by how far the crew could walk given oxygen supply in case the rover failed.)
The Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 astronauts drove their rovers a total of 17.3 miles (27.9 km), 16.6 miles (26.7 km), and 22.2 miles (35.7 km), respectively, over the course of three expeditions.
The Lego Technic NASA Apollo Lunar Rover – LRV reproduces the lunar rover in 1/8 scale down to the smallest detail. The structure is divided into four main components: four-wheel chassis with integrated control and display console and seats; front chassis with high gain antenna and TV camera; lunar communications relay unit (LCRU) containing a low-gain antenna and 16 mm camera; and a collection of tools (including a rock hammer, drill set, pipe wrench and adjustable bucket) and rear track assembly with lunar experiments.
As with the real lunar rover, which must be compact enough to fit into the descent stage of the lunar module, each of the last three Lego sections can be removed so that the main chassis can be folded. In its stowed configuration, the full-size LRV was just over half its full length of 10 feet (3 meters).
Once deployed, the Lego rover can be steered using the same T-shaped hand controller used by astronauts and has a suspension system that allows it to move over difficult lunar terrain. Although the model was hand-operated, the real rover used batteries, and the Lego model of it was detailed to include heating and cooling elements.
The Lego LRV also includes several pieces specific to at least two missions in which the rover is used. Features of the model include a collection of “moon stones”; one of them is much larger than the others and represents the “Big Muley,” the largest rock sample brought to Earth by Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke.
Also included is the Transverse Gravimeter Experiment, which measured the geological structure of the moon as Cernan and Schmitt moved around Taurus-Littrow. Another reference to the last mission (to date) to land humans on the moon is the map mounted on the LCRU; It details the actual distances traveled by the three drivers of the Apollo 17 LRV. (Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way on set to turn the map into a makeshift replacement fender, as Cernan and Schmitt had to do on their second outing.)
The set also had to do without the fine wire mesh that forms the high-gain antenna’s dish and the rover’s mesh tires (although the latter is molded to give it a web-like appearance). But since the actual rovers used by astronauts to train must use rubber tires, this is perhaps excusable since the mesh can only support the vehicle’s weight in the moon’s low-gravity environment.
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The Lego Technic NASA Apollo Lunar Rover – LRV set is the second model of the historic vehicle the company has produced, following the much more primitive red, white and blue car featured in set #565, “Moon Landing”, released in 1976. Lego has also built other lunar rovers as part of a variety of fictional space-themed sets and a 2022 Lunar Rover (60348) based on NASA’s early concepts for the current Artemis program.
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