Douglas I. Tilden Lunar Roving Vehicle Collection

Collection

Identifier: 1998-08-10

The Douglas I. Tilden Lunar Roving Vehicle Collection consists of reference materials used during the restoration of the Museum's Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), including technical reports and other documents, drawings and diagrams, and some ephemera.

The first series, Textual Materials, consists of various techical reports by Boeing and NASA documenting the LRV.

The second series, Visual Materials, contains a few reference images and photographs taken at the National Air and Space Museum's rover exhibit, but the bulk of the series consists of technical drawings and diagrams for various parts of the LRV. The drawings are copies of original technical drawings by Boeing and are organized in order of drawing number.

At the end of the collection is a binder of of additional reference materials; the contents have been removed from the binder and foldered for preservation purpoases. The contents of the binder include many official NASA 8x10" color photographs of the LRV, additional drawings and diagrams, and some transparencies with technical documentation. A folder with ephemera includes a Boeing brochure on the LRV and a NASA booklet about Apollo 15.

Dates

circa 1970-1990s
Majority of material found within 1970 - 1971

Language of Materials

All materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research. Two floppy disks are not accessible at this time.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Extent

1.9 Cubic Feet (three (3) full-width legal size document boxes and one (1) full-width letter size document box)

Additional Description

Abstract

Douglas I. Tilden worked on the restoration of the Museum of Flight's Lunar Roving Vehicle. A crew of 18 volunteers worked on the restoration project from about 1993-1995. The materials in the collections were used for that restoration project.

Historical Note: Lunar Roving Vehicle

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was a small buggy used on the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 lunar-landing missions in 1971 and 1972. Boeing began building the Lunar Roving Vehicle in 1969. The vehicle was specially designed to meet the demands of lunar exploration and featured: computerized navigation, a portable television system capable of sending color images back to Earth via satellite, the ability to carry four times its weight and wheels capable of navigating the difficult lunar surface. Additionally, special materials provided the LRV protection from lunar temperatures ranging from -250°F to 250°F. The Museum's LRV was built by Boeing as an engineering mock-up.

Biographical Note: Douglas I. Tilden Douglas I. Tilden worked on the restoration of the Museum of Flight's Lunar Roving Vehicle. A crew of 18 volunteers worked on the restoration project from about 1993-1995. No further information is known.