for Apollo 16 astronauts yawn and during
the lunar rover was a valuable tool
allowing them to explore greater areas
of the main service but to millions of
Americans watching from Earth it looked
like just plain fun everyone wanted to
take the rover for a ride Tom would
certainly but for a stronger reason here
was a vehicle that took only one hand to
offer a nineteen seventy or mobile
accident left Tom partially paralyzed
his dream of having a single stick
control system like the Rovers for his
own vehicle began to take shape in March
1974 when he and his wife Shirley were
invited to NASA's Johnson Space Center
in Houston Texas tom was accustomed to
the idea of driving with one hand that's
exactly how his wheelchair worked the
only modification required on the rover
was the addition of a simple metal
support for his on toms notion proved
correct he could indeed drive the rover
inspired by Tom's performance NASA
teamed up with the Veterans
Administration and awarded a contract to
the Johnson engineering corporation in
Boulder Colorado what Johnson has
developed with now 39 year old Tom warts
his health is a system called the eunice
take a 1981 ford van with a conventional
wheelchair lift on the back is being
used in the eunice tick project once
inside the driver pushes a button which
rolls the eunice tick control panel into
place to start the van he just presses
another button shifting works the same
way moving the joystick forward
accelerates the van how far it is moved
determine speed sliding the stick left
or right turns the van in the desired
direction while pulling it back applies
the brakes even people used to
conventional steering wheels and pedals
have said they actually prefer driving
with the eunice ting after only a few
hours of practice Andy kept drivers have
been even more enthusiastic Johnson
engineering vice president nancy dagger
independence is a very very key thing
for handicapped people and they see the
ability to drive and being able to
transport themselves as regaining
independence that they've lost being
able to do things on his own is exactly
why tom words is so excited about the
eunice take you liked it often
go by yourself and do like used to play
you got heard it just give you total
freedom my independence I just really be
happy when they got it all completed him
out on the market Johnson engineering is
now testing the unis tick to make sure
it consistently performs as designed so
now a part of this van the system could
be installed in just about any car or
truck the hope is that Eunice tix will
be commercially available by late
nineteen eighty-seven it's been 14 years
since the works is first saw the
astronauts driving the rover on the moon
and 12 years since they visited the
Johnson Space Center in Houston but the
whole experience has left a strong
impression surely explained up until
that point I think that we always felt
that NASA was involved in the space
program that was it and that would never
affect us ever but now we know that
their program gives us and everybody
that's handicapped a chance to use some
of their technology in our everyday
lives that everybody else takes for
granted
the unis tick vehicle control helping
handicapped people lead more independent
lives by giving them the opportunity to
drive
you