Apollo 17
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Date: 2021-12-05

Apollo 17, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1971 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Apollo_17
#Gene_Cernan
#Ronald_Evans_(astronaut)
#Harrison_Schmitt
#1972_in_the_United_States
#Apollo_program_missions
#Extravehicular_activity
#Lunar_rovers
#Crewed_missions_to_the_Moon
#Sample_return_missions
Apollo 17 （December 7 – 19, 1972） was the final Moon landing mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or gone beyond low Earth orbit.
The third mission to carry the Lunar Roving Vehicle, its crew consisted of Commander Eugene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans.
Schmitt was the only scientist to set foot on the Moon, and the mission had a heavy emphasis on science, with a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice carried in the command module.
Launched at 12:33 a.
m.
Eastern Standard Time （EST） on December 7, 1972, Apollo 17 was a "J-type" mission that included three days on the lunar surface, extended scientific capability, and the use of the third Lunar Roving Vehicle （LRV）.
Cernan and Schmitt landed in the Taurus–Littrow valley and completed three moonwalks, taking lunar samples and deploying scientific instruments.
The landing site had been chosen to further the mission's main goals: to sample lunar highland material older than Mare Imbrium, and to investigate the possibility of relatively recent volcanic activity.
Evans remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module （CSM）, taking scientific measurements and photographs.
Cernan, Evans, Schmitt, and the mice returned to Earth on December 19.
Apollo 17 was the first mission to have no one on board who had been a test pilot; X-15 test pilot Joe Engle lost the lunar module pilot assignment to Schmitt, a geologist.
The mission included the first night launch of a U.S. crewed spacecraft and the final crewed launch of a Saturn V rocket.
It was also the final use of Apollo hardware for its ...