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Apollo 17

Apollo 17
The first image is a successful moon landing in full color containing the American flag, an astronaut, a lunar rover, and a lunar landing module. The second image is an emblem containing a statue of the Greek god Apollo, red stripes inside an eagle made of white lines, the Moon, Saturn, and a spiral galaxy; along the outside of the emblem are is the word "Apollo" along with the number "seventeen" in roman numerals, and then the name "Cernan," "Evans," and "Schmitt." The third and final image contains Schmitt on the left, Cernan in the middle and sitting, and Evans behind Cernan.
Gene Cernan salutes the U.S. flag, with the Apollo Lunar Module Challenger and Lunar Roving Vehicle in the background
Mission typeCrewed lunar landing (J)
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID
  • CSM: 1972-096A
  • LM: 1972-096C
SATCAT no.
  • CSM: 6300
  • LM: 6307
Mission duration12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes, 59 seconds
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft
Manufacturer
Launch mass48,609 kilograms (107,165 lb)[2]
Landing mass5,500 kilograms (12,120 lb)[3]
Crew
Crew size3
Members
Callsign
  • CSM: America
  • LM: Challenger
EVAs1 in cislunar space
3 on the lunar surface
EVA duration1 hour, 5 minutes, 44 seconds
(Spacewalk to retrieve film cassettes)
Start of mission
Launch dateDecember 7, 1972, 05:33:00 (1972-12-07UTC05:33Z) UTC (12:33 a.m. EST)[4]
RocketSaturn V SA-512
Launch siteKennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Recovered byUSS Ticonderoga
Landing dateDecember 19, 1972, 19:54:58 (1972-12-19UTC19:54:59Z) UTC[5]
Landing siteSouth Pacific Ocean
17°53′S 166°07′W / 17.88°S 166.11°W / -17.88; -166.11 (Apollo 17 splashdown)
Lunar orbiter
Spacecraft componentCommand and service module
Orbital insertionDecember 10, 1972, 19:53:55 UTC[5]
Orbital departureDecember 16, 1972, 23:35:09 UTC[5]
Orbits75
Lunar lander
Spacecraft componentLunar module
Landing dateDecember 11, 1972, 19:54:58 UTC[5]
Return launchDecember 14, 1972, 22:54:37 UTC[5]
Landing siteTaurus–Littrow
20°11′27″N 30°46′18″E / 20.1908°N 30.7717°E / 20.1908; 30.7717[6]
Sample mass115 kilograms (254 lb)
Surface EVAs3
EVA duration
  • 22 hours, 3 minutes, 57 seconds
  • First: 7 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds
  • Second: 7 hours, 36 minutes, 56 seconds
  • Third: 7 hours, 15 minutes, 8 seconds
Lunar rover
Distance driven35.7 kilometers (22.2 mi)

Left to right: Schmitt, Cernan (seated), Evans
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Apollo 18 (canceled) →
 

Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. 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 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 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.

Launched at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, following the only launch-pad delay in the course of the whole Apollo program that was caused by a hardware problem, Apollo 17 was a "J-type" mission that included three days on the lunar surface, expanded scientific capability, and the use of the third Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Cernan and Schmitt landed in the Taurus–Littrow valley, completed three moonwalks, took lunar samples and deployed scientific instruments. Orange soil was discovered at Shorty crater; it proved to be volcanic in origin, although from early in the Moon's history. Evans remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module (CSM), taking scientific measurements and photographs. The spacecraft returned to Earth on December 19.

The mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission (12 days, 14 hours),[7] greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type (7.6 kilometers or 4.7 miles), longest total duration of lunar-surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 4 minutes),[8] largest lunar-sample return (approximately 115 kg or 254 lb), longest time in lunar orbit (6 days, 4 hours),[7] and greatest number of lunar orbits (75).[9]

  1. ^ Orloff 2004, Statistical Tables: Launch Vehicle/Spacecraft Key Facts.
  2. ^ Orloff & Harland 2006, p. 585.
  3. ^ Orloff & Harland 2006, p. 581.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference astronautix was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e Orloff, Richard W. (2000). "Apollo 17, pp243". Apollo by the Numbers (PDF). NASA. NASA SP-2000-4029. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  6. ^ "NASA NSSDC Master Catalog – Apollo 17 descent stage". NASA. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  7. ^ a b "Astronaut Friday: Ronald Evans". Space Center Houston. December 28, 2018. Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference eva table was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Orloff 2004, Apollo 17: The Eleventh Mission.
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