Heavy Lunokhod Lunar Rover

Mission Profile

Heavy Lunokhod Lunar Rover was a Soviet concept for a large pressurized crewed rover, studied as part of broader post-landing lunar exploration planning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, envisioned to significantly extend cosmonaut operational range on the lunar surface compared to the open rovers used in the Apollo program. The pressurized cabin would have allowed crew to work in a shirt-sleeve environment without spacesuits during long traverses, with external mobility provided through specialized airlocks for geological sampling excursions. The Heavy Lunokhod was never funded for development, as the Soviet crewed lunar program was cancelled before progressing to the extended surface exploration phase that would have required such a vehicle.