Close Menu
    NASA’s Apollo 17 astronauts used spare maps, clamps, and strips of "duct tape" to repair one of their Lunar Rover's fenders to keep dust away from themselves in December 1972.
    Space

    NASA’s Apollo 17 astronauts used spare maps, clamps, and strips of “duct tape” to repair one of their Lunar Rover’s fenders to keep dust away from themselves in December 1972.

    Share.
    View 13 Comments

    13 Comments

    1. fastgoat12 on

      Crafty! I mean they figured out how to survive and fix the oxygen with things to make McGuyver jealous

    3. YoungestDonkey on

      It’s lucky lunar duct tape only needs 1/6 the strength of terrestrial duct tape.

    4. TaskForceCausality on

      Worth noting here that lunar regolith is corrosive/hazardous to the equipment and men’s health, so this step is more than just cosmetic

    5. StellaSlayer2020 on

      Was it special duct tape? Is it something you could get off the shelf from Ace Hardware? The reason I ask, what effect does the vacuum of space have on the sticky component of duct tape?

    6. UF1977 on

      The mission commander, Gene Cernan, accidentally caught the fender with a geology hammer sticking out of one of his leg pockets. They had to make the repair because otherwise the kicked-up dust would have gotten all over them and hampered visibility. Cernan recovered the fender fix at the end of the last EVA, because it contained items they needed to return to orbit. Today it’s on display at the National Air & Space Museum in DC.

      https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/maps-fender-extension-lunar-roving-vehicle-apollo-17/nasm_A19760010000

    7. Shadowrider95 on

      Shit! Even on the moon them Dodge Ram drivers will park too close and mess up your fenders!

    8. backtotheland76 on

      Clearly NASA lied to us. They said all those astronauts had Phds and such. But they were just a bunch of rednecks out for the ultimate off road trip

    9. mtnviewguy on

      American ingenuity at work! If it doesn’t move and it should? WD-40! If it moves and it shouldn’t? Duct Tape! Hell yeah!

    11. UpshawUnderhill on

      I just 3D printed parts for a model of this exact rover!
      Still have a couple of prototypes of the flashlight clamps sitting on my desk.
      It’s headed to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in New York.

    12. Hoppie1064 on

      Apparently duct tape is some life saving stuff on a moon mission.

      Apollo 13 used it to adapt carbon monoxide absorbers from the command module to work in the lander module so they could use lander as life raft.

    13. Even-Smell7867 on

      Pssh, just fake lore to make the landing look real. IT WAS FAKE

      /s

      Really though, I didn’t know this factoid and now I am glad I do.