Lunar Rover: Owners’ Workshop Manual by Christopher Riley, David Woods, and Phil Dolling

Lunar Rover: Owners’ Workshop Manual has a familiar look to it. Published by Haynes, well known for its car manuals, this title takes on the appearance of one of those aftermarket repair and maintenance guides. This style is only cover-deep; within the book is an outstanding and vividly illustrated guide to the history and operation of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), the first (and still, only) manned wheeled vehicle to traverse another world. Running 192 large, colorful pages, the book was released in 2012. In keeping with the Haynes style, the three authors do not, unfortunately, receive credit on the book’s front cover. Christopher Riley, David Woods, and Phil Dolling have put together a comprehensive look at a small but significant slice of Project Apollo. (Woods is also known for his excellent How Apollo Flew to the Moon).

The book begins with a brief history of ideas for manned lunar rovers, including the models designed in the early 1960s, before realistic size and weight limitations of the Apollo hardware were set in stone. Featuring large pressurized cabins and weighing up to ten tons, they look comically large compared to the final vehicle’s sub-500 pound weight (which, on the Moon, came to under 100 pounds). We also learn about the amazing turnaround time required by the rover’s builders at Boeing—less than two years from first sketches to wheels on the Moon. (Though early development on lunar rovers began years earlier, the design competition for the final vehicle didn’t get started until around the time of Apollo 11. The first rover flew on Apollo 15). From here the authors proceed to descriptions of each of the rover’s systems, from navigation to power to the origami-style deployment and unfolding of the LRV from the side of the Lunar Module. Following this is a narrative section discussing how well each of these systems worked in practice on the lunar surface.

Just as with Woods’ earlier Apollo writing, the book does not shy away from the fine details of the missions and equipment. The writing is clear, but it becomes so dense in places that it may require backtracking or rereading for nonexperts (myself included) to fully grasp some concepts, particularly in the chapter discussing the rover’s electrical power systems. If the book were purely text, it would be more difficult to recommend to a general audience. However, like How Apollo Flew to the Moon, this book’s images aid understanding immensely. The effect is even more pronounced here, thanks to the large trim size and glossy, full color design. With three, four, five, or even more images on nearly every spread, it wouldn’t be exaggeration to describe it as lavishly illustrated. Images include photos of ground-based rover tests, astronaut training processes, and of course, LRVs rolling around the moon. A wealth of diagrams, largely taken from rover training manuals and other documentation, highlight in schematic detail the vehicles’ operation. In fact, the use of images may even go a bit overboard at times. One 18-page section consists solely of scanned images of the instruction manual for deploying the rover. It’s interesting to include for the sake of completeness, particularly for hardcore Apollo buffs, but it does feel slightly indulgent.

The design is flexible enough to allow for special features, such as sidebars, which add a great deal to the book. Set on darker-colored pages than the main text, these sections take on topics tangentially related to the subject under discussion. Some provide basic science background (one, for instance, helps explain the confusion regarding the concepts of weight and mass). Others are quirkier, expanding on topics such as a planned lunar jet pack and the concern by British auto manufacturer Rover that unintentional confusion may result from calling the Moon car a “rover.” The sidebars are a helpful way to present these not-completely-necessary bits of information in a way that doesn’t interrupt the main text.

Lunar Rover: Owners’ Workshop Manual is a wonderful piece of work. The research, writing, and design that went into it are apparent in the final product: a comprehensive, technical, and highly visual history of the Lunar Roving Vehicle. For people hungry for the kind of fine detail the book provides, I recommend it very highly. And even for a broader audience, the book’s illustrations and sidebars make it a worthwhile read.