For over fifty years, a piece of Soviet hardware has remained silent on the Moon's surface, but it continues to play a crucial role in modern science. The Lunokhod 1 rover, which landed in November 1970 as part of the Soviet Luna 17 mission, carries a French retroreflector made of fourteen prisms. This device reflects laser light back to its source without requiring electricity, making it a valuable tool for scientists on Earth. Lunokhod 1 roamed the Moon's Sea of Rains for about ten kilometers before falling silent in September 1971, as the lunar day ended and the rover lost contact. It was officially declared inactive in October of that year, as attempts to reestablish communication failed. Despite its long dormancy, the retroreflector on Lunokhod 1 remained intact, waiting for a chance to be used again. In March 2010, researchers discovered the exact location of Lunokhod 1 using images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This breakthrough allowed scientists to aim a laser from the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico at the rover's resting place. In April 2010, the team successfully bounced a laser off the retroreflector and received nearly 2,000 photons in return—a remarkable achievement given the distance of nearly 384,000 kilometers. The retroreflector on Lunokhod 1 has proven more resilient than its counterpart on Lunokhod 2, which has suffered from the accumulation of lunar dust. Scientists now use the Lunokhod 1 retroreflector as a precise reference point to measure the Earth-Moon distance to within a centimeter. This level of accuracy supports ongoing research into the theory of general relativity, offering scientists a fifth reliable reference point on the Moon's surface.