The First Robotic Rover

Thanks to my robotics' friend Carol Lynn Hazlett for pointing me to the fascinating story of the very first robotic rover in space the Lunokhod 1. I had so much fun looking this one up! According to a Wikipedia article here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_1

Lunokhod 1 (Луноход, moon walker in Russian; Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 203, vehicle 8ЕЛ№203) was the first of two unmannedlunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The Luna 17 spacecraft carried Lunokhod 1 to the Moon in 1970. Lunokhod 1 was the first remote-controlled robot "rover" to freely move across the surface of an astronomical object beyond the Earth. Lunokhod 0 (No.201), the previous and first attempt to do so, launched in February 1969 but failed to reach orbit.

The most interesting thing I found though was the link to the Lunar and Planetary Department at Moscow University  here - http://selena.sai.msu.ru/Home/Spacecrafts/Lunokhod1/lunokhod1e.htm It had these great photos.

What a great piece of history! Thanks for the fun chance to learn something new Carol! 

Space rovers are covered at Wikipedia in general here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(space_exploration)

Edit - Carol just pointed me to this also (even earlier mission!) - http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/soviet-union-first-moon