One museum, two locations
Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC.
Visit
National Air and Space Museum in DC
Udvar-Hazy Center in VA
Plan a field trip
Plan a group visit
At the museum and online
Discover our exhibitions and participate in programs both in person or virtually.
What's On
Events
Exhibitions
IMAX and Planetarium
Dive deep into air and space
Browse our collections, stories, research, and on demand content.
Explore
Stories
Topics
Collections
On demand
For researchers
For teachers and parents
Bring the Air and Space Museum to your learners, wherever you are.
Learn
Programs
Learning resources
Plan a field trip
Educator professional development
Education monthly theme
Be the spark
Your support will help fund exhibitions, educational programming, and preservation efforts.
Give
Become a member
Wall of Honor
Ways to give
Host an Event
Lunar Exploration Vehicles
A real lunar module and robotic vehicles that explored the lunar surface before and after Apollo.
This exhibition is now closed.
This gallery displayed a constellation of vehicles used for lunar exploration. Dominating the space was a real lunar module, the second one built for the Apollo program. The orbital test flight of the first lunar module proved so successful that a second test flight was deemed unnecessary. The lunar module displayed here was used instead for ground testing. Six more like it landed astronauts on the Moon.
A series of unmanned lunar spacecraft preceded the manned missions. These robotic explorers transmitted images of the Moon, inspected its surface, and searched for Apollo landing sites. Examples of the three types of space probes involved in that effort—Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter—hung above the lunar module, along with a more recent lunar explorer: the Moon-mapping spacecraft Clementine.
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
Plan Your Visit
Related Topics:
Spaceflight
Apollo program
Technology and Engineering
Robotics
In This Exhibit
Ranger Spacecraft
Object
Surveyor Lunar Lander
Object
Lunar Orbiter
Object
Lunar Module LM-2
Object
Clementine, Engineering Model
Object
You may also like
Destination Moon
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
On View Exhibition
Kenneth C. Griffin
Exploring the Planets Gallery
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
On View Exhibition
AirSpace Ep.8:
Cute Little Robots in Danger?
June 28, 2018
Apollo 15
August 20, 2021
Stay up to date on the latest stories and events with our newsletter
Privacy
Terms of Use