Apollo 17

Also known as Apollo XVII

Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon; he was selected in place of Joe Engle, as NASA had been under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice that was carried in the command and service module.

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Apollo 17 was the final crewed Moon landing mission in 1972, during which astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt walked on the lunar surface while Ronald Evans orbited above. The mission is historically significant as the last time humans have visited the Moon and because it prioritized scientific research, notably including Schmitt, the only professional geologist to land there, and various experiments designed to advance lunar knowledge.

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Wikidata facts

Official name: Apollo 17
Duration: 1086719
Mass: 5497.5
Image: AS17-146-22296.png

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Commons category: Apollo 17
UTC date of spacecraft launch: 1972-12-07
Commons gallery: Apollo 17
UTC date of spacecraft landing: 1972-12-19
periapsis: 26.9

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Article

Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon; he was selected in place of Joe Engle, as NASA had been under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice that was carried in the command and service module.

Mission planners had two primary goals in deciding on the landing site: to sample lunar highland material older than that at Mare Imbrium and to investigate the possibility of relatively recent volcanic activity. They therefore selected Taurus–Littrow, where formations that had been viewed and pictured from lunar orbit were thought to be volcanic in nature. Since all three crew members had backed up previous Apollo lunar missions, they were familiar with the Apollo spacecraft and had more time for geology training.