- Who
- Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt
- What
- 18 kilometre(s) per hour
- Where
- Not Applicable (Sherlock Block Field)
- When
On 13 December 1972 (EST), NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan (driver) and Harrison Schmitt (passenger; both USA) claimed a speed of 18 km/h (11.18 mph), as recorded in their communication transcripts, while driving the Apollo 17 Lunar Rover (LRV-3) near the "Sherlock" block field about 1 km (0.62 mi) east of their landing site on the Moon. This extended the 17-km/h (10.5-mph) lunar speed recorded in the transcripts of Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke during their final EVA on 23 April 1972.
The lunar speed record is also the off-world speed record.
The three Lunar Rovers built for the Apollo missions were more or less the same, differing only in their experimental instruments and cameras. Each had four electric motors (one in each wheel hub) that together generated roughly 1 hp (750 watts) of power.
The LRV was designed for a cruising speed of 8 km/h (4.97 mph), but its speedometer went up to 20 km/h. Cernan and Schmitt's speed was assisted by the fact that they were going downhill with a heavy cargo of Moon rocks.
