Soviet Lunokhod Program [robotic lunar rovers]

A few months ago, I was watching either the Science Channel or the History Channel and watched a program about the Soviet lunar rover program (and I wish I remembered more about the TV program).  I was surprised to learn that the Soviets were on the Moon well before the United States successfully landed there during the Apollo Program.  I wanted to do a video about the rovers I have made and tie that in with the Lunokhod ("Moonwalker") program, but two things have held me back.  One: I have very few rover designs and Two:  I really haven't had the time to edit the videos that I need to or the time to design more rovers.  I do have a video with a rather clean and nice looking rover that I landed on Minmus.  While the design didn't take Minmus's micro-gravity into consideration and it liked to roll, flip and otherwise "spazz" out while driving. 

The Lunokhod program was genius.  I don't really think anyone in America at the time thought that the Soviet's could design anything that could operate on the Moon.   During the late 60's through the 70's, the Soviets and Americans were in a race to be the first into space and all sorts of other achievements.  It was kind of like the Olympic games for scientists and engineers.  It put the best and brightest of each nation against the other.  Coincidently, out of the Cold War, this race was beneficial to mankind as it sped up the need for invention, technology and helped make the world what it is today.  Your cell phone and computer are a direct result of the necessity to operate in space.  While it had many military uses, I still believe that it fostered more civil benefits.   The Lunokhod rovers were designed by Alexander Kermurdijan.  He was relatively unknown to the world, but he was brought on as an advisor during the development of the Mars Pathfinder rover in 1997.  If you want to learn more about the Lunokhod program, check out the "wiki page".

Lunokhod 1

What this all means?  I just thought it was interesting and it got me thinking that I need to get back into the VAB and design some rovers to get more science points.  Hopefully I can come up with some good designs that will survive the rigors of landing and roving.  I hope this encourages you to develop a rover program yourself.  Good luck and as always, fly safe-ish.