GM’S CONTRIBUTION TO SPACE PROGRAM

For the month of November, we’re taking it back all the way to the 1960’s. It was a time of war, music, confusion and space exploration, and during that time GM chose to play with the stars. That’s right, during the 1960’s and 1970’s GM worked with NASA on the Apollo moon program. GM researched and developed new tech that made the moon landing missions possible. Intrigued? Keep reading. It gets more impressive.

GM’s AC Electronics Division developed the inertial guidance systems for NASA and GM’s Delco Electronics Division designed all the mobility systems of the Lunar Roving Vehicle – the vehicle Apollo 15 astronauts drove on the moon.

Without the inertial guidance and navigation systems, the spacecraft would not have been able to navigate in space accurately, and without the Lunar Roving Vehicle, the astronauts would have been limited in their exploration of the moon. Both were serious components to the success of the Apollo missions.

In particular, the LRV was a particularly unique piece of tech as it could carry 1080 pounds, despite it only weighing 457 pounds. It also could fold to fit for transportation purposes.

Pretty crazy, right?