NASA Apollo Programme - Lunar Rover and EMU: Books

NASA Apollo - Lunar Roving Vehicle - Operations Handbook

Developed in only 17 months at a cost of 38 million dollars, the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) greatly expanded the survey range of the astronauts on Apollo 15, 16 and 17. Designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon, the LRV boasted an ingenious design that allowed it to be folded up and stored inside the Lunar Module. It would then be deployed using a system of pulleys and brake reels.

For safety reasons, astronauts never drove the LRV a distance farther from the LM than they could safely walk in the unlikely event that the rover failed. On each of the three day missions that it was employed, the LRV was used daily for three traverses. The longest was on Apollo 17, when it was driven 20.1km, and it traveled a total of 35.9km on that mission.

The total distance traveled by all three LRVs was 90.4km. Almost all of it was done without incident, although some damage to the fender extensions caused dust problems on Apollo 16 and 17.
Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 praised the design and operation of the vehicle, saying "...the Lunar Rover proved to be the reliable, safe and flexible lunar exploration vehicle we expected it to be."

Originally created for the astronauts by prime contractor Boeing, this Lunar Roving Vehicle Operations Handbook describes the LRV and its systems, and details the deployment and driving procedures. It also details the 1-gravity LRV used to train astronauts on Earth. A lengthy appendix provides performance and other data.

Information

NASA Apollo - Operations Handbook - Extra Vehicular Mobility Unit (Spacesuit)

The result of eighteen years of design and research, the A7L and A7LB spacesuits served during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions. Designed by International Latex Corporation (ILC) Dover and with a life support backpack provided by Hamilton Standard, the A7L featured a water-cooled undergarment, an inner blue pressurized layer, and a tough white nylon outer hull. After the disastrous Apollo I fire, ILC produced a version that utilized beta cloth that is fire resistant up to 650 degrees Celsius.
Two basic versions of the suit were used during Apollo: an EV A7L configuration for the command module pilot (CMP) that provided low pressure and fire protection as well as protection for free-space EVA, and the EV A7L PGA configuration that provided additional protection from the lunar surface environment. Apollo 7-14 used the A7L design that provided six hours of primary and thirty minutes of emergency life support. The longer "J" missions 15, 16 and 17 utilized the A7LB suit that extended primary life support by an hour, and also featured additional joints to facilitate operation of the lunar roving vehicle. CMPs on these missions wore A7LB based H-series A7L suits, as they needed to perform EVAs to retrieve film from the Scientific Instrument Module in "deep space". Modified A7LBs were also used during both Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz.

Created by NASA in 1968 and revised in 1971 for the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions, this handbook explains the extravehicular mobility unit, its subsystems, accessories and operation, as well as emergency procedures. Originally printed in two volumes by NASA, this version incorporates both in one book.

Information