Nearly 50 years after the first Apollo Moon landing, an effort is underway to recognize the little-known, yet vastly important role that was played by Boeing's facility in Kent.
Lunar rovers for the Apollo 15,16 and 17 missions were built at Boeing's Kent location.
“Everything about it we built here” retired Boeing research technician Charlie Martin said.
It took countless hours of testing, re-testing and sometimes scientific guess-work to figure out how to make the impossible possible.
“It's the first SUV that ever drove on the moon. Four-wheel drive, electric engines, battery driven,” Martin said, adding how much he enjoyed the work. “I was a science fiction nut when I was a kid so for me it was like living a dream, I was making things to go to the Moon.”
Martin said it was exciting to watch the rovers finally drive on the Moon’s surface.
“It’s in some place that it's never been and a place you've never been so you're only guessing and if you guess right, everything works right and it did,” Martin said.
Martin said they had a tight production schedule so there wasn’t much time for celebration.
Martin has joined an effort to celebrate this little-known part of Kent's history. A fundraising effort is underway to put a replica rover and an astronaut in a downtown park to educate and inspire.
“The fact that they were made here helps honor their past. It helps inspire kids and it helps us imagine what's possible in the future,” Kent Economic Development Manage Michelle Wilmot said.
