History
The concept of a lunar rover predated Apollo, with a 1952–1954 series in Collier's Weekly magazine by Wernher von Braun and others, "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!" In this, von Braun, who had come to America from Germany under Operation Paperclip and was a leader at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, described a six-week stay on the Moon, featuring 10-ton tractor trailers for moving supplies.
In 1956, Mieczyslaw G. Bekker, a native of Poland and then a professor at the University of Michigan and a consultant to the Land Locomotion Laboratory at the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command, published two books on land locomotion. These books provided much of the theoretical base for future lunar vehicle development.
Read more about this topic: Lunar Roving Vehicle
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
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“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
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—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)