Apollo-17 Facts

Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan was driving the Moon rover in December 1972. The nearest repair shop was 238,000 miles away. A hammer in his pocket snapped off the rear fender. Moon dust began coating the crew and the rover's controls. Mission Control spent the night designing a fix. Cernan and Schmitt taped four lunar maps together and clamped on the homemade fender. It held for the rest of the mission. The fender is still on display today.