Wernher von Braun published early concepts for lunar rovers in 1952, and Boeing became the prime contractor on the 28th of October 1969. The vehicle was developed under project managers Henry Kudish and Earl Houtz at Marshall Space Flight Center.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle has a mass of 210 kilograms without payload and measures 3 meters long with a height of 1 meter. It features electric drive wheels made by Delco and is powered by two 36-volt silver-zinc potassium hydroxide non-rechargeable batteries yielding a range of 20 kilometers.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle was first used on the 31st of July 1971 during the Apollo 15 mission. Three vehicles were subsequently deployed on Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 to expand the range of lunar explorers beyond walking distance.
The initial contract to Boeing for the Lunar Roving Vehicle was $19 million, but final costs reached $38 million due to overruns. This budget covered the manufacturing of four flight-ready units plus testing and training models.
Three rovers remain abandoned at Hadley-Apennine, Descartes, and Taurus-Littrow while LRV-4 is displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Additional units including an Engineering Mockup and Qualification Test Unit are exhibited at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.