Lunar Driving Simulator History

The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) required engineering magic to appropriately simulate 1/6th of the Earth’s gravity and transparent aerodynamic forces here at home. They did this with a single jet engine on a pair of gimbals to always point vertically. After boosting the simulator to its test-height, the engine would throttle back so that it cancelling out exactly 5/6th of the vehicle’s weight. Hydrogen peroxide rockets acted as the lander’s thrusters, run through computers that exactly countered any atmospheric impacts like wind while responding to the pilot’s commands so the craft maneuvered as it would on the moon. Even the vehicle’s restricted cockpit view helped astronauts train under similar constraints as the actual lunar modules.