How Goodyear Developed Tires for the Moon

In 1971, Apollo 14 became the third mission to land on the surface of the Moon. Alan Shephard and Edgar Mitchell reached the lunar surface while Stuart Roosa remained in orbit. To move scientific equipment around the Moon, NASA commissioned the creation of two-wheeled handcart called the Mobile Equipment Transporter (MET).

Jalopnik notes that the two tires on the MET were the first air-filled tires to reach the Moon. Goodyear considered possible options for the airless, rock-strewn terrain and settled on smooth, tread-less tires filled with nitrogen.

Shephard and Mitchell used the MET to cover two miles across the Moon. But the cart was so cumbersome that they quickly decided to just carry it, which was manageable in gravity 17% that of Earth's.