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Author
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Topic: Apollo 15: Advertisement on the Moon
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FFrench
Member Posts: 3292
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-12-2009 12:56 PM
  
I have heard a story that a Jim Rathmann car dealership decal made it onto the lunar surface — in fact, in the version I heard, it was stuck on Apollo 15's lunar rover. Many of the astronauts were good friends with Rathmann, who leased them Corvettes, so it's not completely implausible, although it would have been done without NASA management knowing.One colleague told me that the anecdote appears somewhere in Jim Irwin's autobiography, although I have never been able to find it. Has anyone else heard this story, or know of a source? Thank you. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2486
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 08-13-2009 03:48 AM
I have had a very quick browse through the lunar photos of the Apollo 15 rover. This one shows a very indistinct decal shape on the bottom of the left, front fender.
This doesn't mean it is — just means there's an indistinct shape. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3292
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-14-2009 10:37 PM
Thanks so much for looking for the photos. I am not quite sure what I am looking for in that photo, but I appreciate you looking through them.Has anyone else heard that decal story anywhere? Thanks. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2486
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 08-15-2009 05:56 AM
The shape is on what might be called the mud-flap — what seems to be an extension of the front fender. It is circular with some blurred features within the faint outline. If it is a decal, knowing the clinging properties of moon dust, suppose it would be dust covered. Hope this helps. |
Randy Pickering
New Member Posts: 2
From: Titusville, Fla, Brevard
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 08-19-2009 08:07 AM
Is there a photo of a lunar rover on the moon with a bumper sticker from Jim Rathmann, Cheverly Melbourne, Florida? I have researched this and cannot find any proof. I did talk to someone from Kennedy Space Center in Florida who said: I heard of a story that the astronauts put a pan of sand under one of the rovers in the O&C building, taped the sticker on the rover and took a photo of it and then took the sticker off. I have heard that Mr. Rathmann did have a photo of a lunar rover with one of his bumper stickers on it hanging over his desk. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3292
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-19-2009 10:42 PM
Thanks so much, Randy. You KSC guides always seem to know the best stories! This version certainly sounds very plausible — more likely, in fact, than it actually making it to the moon. If you (or anyone else) learn more about this, I'd be most grateful. Thank you. |
MOL
Member Posts: 191
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 02-05-2024 10:06 PM
The story of the Jim Rathmann decal appears on page 49 of the book "The Light Stuff" by Bob Ward published in 1982: What music producer Mickey Kapp calls the "biggest gotcha of all" put Jim Rathmann on the moon. With the four-wheeled lunar rover being used on the later Apollo flights, and with Rathmann in the car business and all, his astronaut buddies thought it only fitting that a commercial message be placed on a moon buggy. So they put a bumper sticker on the vehicle, and kept replacing it every time more sober-sided NASA people yanked it off. In the end the sticker stayed on - all the way to the moon. It reads JIM RATHMANN CHEVROLET, and it's there still. |
Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 807
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 02-15-2024 07:05 PM
There was a well researched/written book about the lunar rovers published not that long ago (2021) titled "Across the Airless Wilds" by Earl Swift. The author goes into great detail about the history/conception, design, manufacture, and deployment of the rovers on the moon during the last three Apollo missions. Although it has been probably a year and a half since I read my local library network's copy I don't recall anything about this 'decal' mentioned in the book. Of course it is simply possible I don't remember or that the author did not include it. |
Philip
Member Posts: 6249
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-18-2024 05:39 AM
Maybe check April 14, 1971 NASA photos of the actual LRV being attached to the LM "Falcon." |
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