Lunokhod 1

Lunokhod 1 landed on the Moon on November 17, 1970, delivered by the Luna 17 spacecraft. It was a bathtub-shaped vehicle mounted on eight independently powered wheels, carrying television cameras, scientific instruments, and a laser retroreflector.

The rover was remotely driven by a five-person team at a control center near Simferopol in Crimea, using television images from the rover''s cameras to navigate the lunar terrain. The four-second communication delay between Earth and Moon made driving challenging -- operators had to anticipate the rover''s position and issue commands accordingly.

Lunokhod 1 operated for 322 Earth days, far exceeding its 90-day design life. It traveled 10.54 kilometers across the Sea of Rains, transmitted over 20,000 television images and 206 panoramic photographs, and conducted hundreds of soil mechanics tests. The rover''s laser retroreflector, placed by Lunokhod on the lunar surface, was used for decades to precisely measure the Earth-Moon distance.