All three rovers were left on the Moon, but various models and mockups exist, and it was one of these mockups which was installed last week right here in Budapest, on the sidewalk under our publisher Gawker Media’s local offices.

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It is a remarkably small, fragile-looking thing—then again, it never had to contend with vicious speeds or, for that matter, an atmosphere. Operated with deliciously analog instruments and a big joystick fit for clunky spacesuit gloves, it must have been a joy to drive, every inch of ground covered virgin road. On Apollo 16, duct tape was involved.

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The people of Budapest stopped to look, perhaps unaware that here was something their kind in particular and mankind in general used to be capable of producing, a car for the heavens, a space buggy. Naturally, kids loved it, walking right up to the crowd control barriers. Then night fell and a day later the space car was gone.

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Photo Credit: NASA (1, 2) and the author