David Scott
1971 Apollo 15 Lunar Roving Vehicle · first car driven on the Moon
Photo details
Joyride serves the 3925 × 4026 NASA delivery JPEG byte-for-byte. No crop, resize, retouching, generation, registration alteration or vehicle reconstruction; a responsive frame may crop displayed edges.
Photo details
Joyride serves the 1535 × 1920 NASA delivery JPEG byte-for-byte. No crop, resize, retouching or generation; a responsive frame may crop displayed edges. The portrait remains separate from James Irwin’s lunar-surface photograph of Scott in the rover.
The first car driven on another world
- Connection
- Mission commander and documented driver · official NASA use, not ownership
- When
- July 31–August 2, 1971 · three lunar traverses
- Identity
- Apollo 15 mission Lunar Roving Vehicle · Hadley-Apennine · 27.8 km over three traverses · Moon car · not the Apollo 16 or Apollo 17 rover
NASA identifies Apollo 15 as the first mission to use a Lunar Roving Vehicle. Commander David Scott and lunar-module pilot James Irwin drove this mission-specific electric rover during three surface excursions at Hadley-Apennine. Joyride records official mission use and documented driving—not personal ownership of government flight hardware.
The Moon car folded into the Lunar Module for the trip. NASA records a mass of 210 kilograms, an aluminium-alloy frame, four woven-wire wheels and a 27.8-kilometre total over three hours and two minutes of driving. Those figures describe the Apollo LRV design and the Apollo 15 traverse record; they do not turn a single mission vehicle into complete coverage of the related Apollo 16 and 17 rovers.
James Irwin photographed Scott seated in the actual Apollo 15 rover during the first lunar-surface excursion on July 31, 1971. The NASA image is not a training mock-up, Earthbound replica or later mission rover. NASA also documents the vehicle’s final parked position after the third excursion, but Joyride makes no claim about its present physical condition or legal custody beyond the historical mission record.
Sources for this story
NASA’s mission, technical and image records identify David Scott as Apollo 15 commander and driver, distinguish the mission’s LRV from the two later Moon vehicles, document three traverses and identify James Irwin as photographer of Scott in the actual rover. No personal ownership, serial number, unchanged present condition, recoverability, complete lunar-rover family coverage, exact Joyride catalog equivalent or compatible game representation is claimed.
- Apollo 15 Lunar Rover and InstrumentsNASA Science · Historical date 1971-07-31 · page reviewed 2026-10-07 · external source
Scott seated in the Apollo 15 LRV during the first surface excursion, James Irwin’s photographer identity, Hadley-Apennine location and mission context.
- The Apollo Lunar Roving VehicleNASA Goddard Space Flight Center · Last updated 2016-05-19 · reviewed 2026-10-07 · external source
Three separate Moon-driven LRVs, Scott and Irwin as Apollo 15 drivers, three Apollo 15 traverses, 27.8 km and 3:02 driving time, plus the 210 kg frame, wheel and folding-vehicle specification.
- Apollo 15: Mission DetailsNASA · Mission record · reviewed 2026-10-07 · external source
July 31–August 2 surface excursions, first car driven on the Moon, 18 hours 37 minutes of exploration and 17.5 miles of mission travel.
Reviewed
Why this is the actual car
- Photo identity evidence
NASA/JSC identifies the July 31, 1971 image as David Scott seated in the Apollo 15 LRV at Hadley-Apennine and names James Irwin as photographer.
- Photo identity evidence
NASA distinguishes the Apollo 15 vehicle driven by Scott and Irwin from the separate Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 LRVs.
The matching photographer, venue, date and vehicle history establish the identification; the chassis stamp is not visible in these photographs.