Apollo 17
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Launched: 7 December 1972 UT 05:33:00 (12:33:00 a.m. EST)
Eugene A. Cernan, commander |
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The Apollo 17 mission was the sixth and last of the manned lunar landing missions in the Apollo series. The crewmen were commander Eugene A. Cernan, command module (CM) pilot Ronald E. Evans, and lunar module (LM) pilot (the first scientist to go to the moon) Harrison H. Schmitt. The lunar module carrying astronauts Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon on the morning of December 11, in the Taurus-Littrow area at 20 deg 10 min N, 30 deg 48 min E and, in a valley 11 km wide between mountains 1500 m high in the north and 2000 m high in the southwest. This location is on the SE rim of Mare Serenitatis. The astronauts remained on the surface for 73 h. Astronaut Evans remained in the CM in orbit and conducted experiments while the others were on the surface. Astronauts Cernan and Schmitt had a lunar roving vehicle (LRV) and rode to distances up to about 3 km from the LM. There were three periods of extravehicular activity (EVA) on the surface in which the astronauts deployed the Apollo lunar surface experiments package (ALSEP) and conducted geological studies of a variety of lunar features. Orange-colored material was found for the first time on any of the Apollo missions. The Apollo 17 spacecraft was launched on December 7, 1972, and was injected into lunar orbit on December 10. The LM (72-096C) landed on the moon on December 11 and returned to the CM on December 14. The CM left lunar orbit on December 16 and returned to Earth on December 19, 1972. The spacecraft mass of 30,370 kg is the mass of the LM including propellants and expendables. Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 19 December 1972 at 19:24:59 UT (2:24:59 p.m. EST) after a mission elapsed time of 301 hrs, 51 mins, 59 secs. The splashdown point was 17 deg 53 min S, 166 deg 7 min W, 350 nautical miles SE of the Samoan Islands and 6.5 km (4 mi) from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga. The Apollo 17 command module capsule "America" is on display at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. |
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View of Saudia Arabia and the north eastern portion of the African continent was photographed by the Apollo 17 astronauts with a hand-held camera on their translunar coast toward lunar landing. Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are some of the African nations visible. Iran, Iraq and Jordan are not so clearly visible because of cloud cover and their particular location in this picture. The Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Dead Sea, Gulf of Aden, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are also visible. |  (57k) |
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This view of the "stripped down" Rover is prior to loadup. This photograph was taken by Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. The mountain in the right background is the east end of South Massif. | ||||||||||
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Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The Lunar Module is in the background. This view of the "stripped down" Rover is prior to loadup. This photograph was taken by Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. |  (65k) |
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 commander, salutes the deployed U.S. flag on the lunar surface during extravehicular activity (EVA) of NASA's final lunar landing mission in the Apollo series. The lunar module is at the left background and the lunar roving vehicle, also in background, is partially obscured. The photo was made by Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. | ||||||||||
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Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, walks toward the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site of the final Apollo lunar landing mission. The photograph was taken by astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. |  (67k) |
Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split boulder at Station 6 (base of North Massif) during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon. Notice the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) in the left foreground. Schmitt is the Apollo 17 lunar module pilot. This picture was taken by Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander. | ||||||||||
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Scientist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot, uses an adjustable sampling scoop to retrieve lunar samples during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-2), at Station 5 at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The scoop is used to retrieve sand, dust and lunar samples too small for the tongs. A gnomon is atop the large rock in the foreground. The gnomon is a stadia rod mounted on a tripod, and serves as an indicator of the gravitational vector and provides accurate vertical reference and calibrated length for determining size and position of objects in near-field photographs. The color scale of blue, orange and green is used to accurately determine color for photography. The rod of it is 18 inches long. |  (32k) |
A view of the Apollo 17 command and service modules photographed from the lunar module (LM) Challenger during rendezvous and docking maneuvers in lunar orbit. The LM ascent stage, with astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt aboard, had just returned from the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the lunar surface. Note the exposed Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) bay in the service module. Three experiments are carried in the bay: S-209 lunar sounder, S-171 infrared scanning spectrometer, and the S-169 far-ultraviolet spectrometer. Also mounted in the SIM bay are the panoramic camera, mapping camera and laser altimeter used in service module photographic tasks. A portion of the LM is on the right. | ||||||||||
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View of the Eratosthenes and Copernicus craters on the lunar nearside, as photographed from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit. |  (34k) |
Astronaut Ronald E. Evans is photographed performing extravehicular activity (EVA) during the Apollo 17 spacecraft's transearth coast. During his EVA Command Module pilot Evans retrieved film cassettes from the Lunar Sounder, Mapping Camera, and Panoramic Camera. The total time for the transearth EVA was one hour seven minutes 19 seconds, starting at ground elapsed time of 257:25 (2:28 p.m.) amd ending at ground elapsed time of 258:42 (3:35 p.m.) on Sunday, December 17, 1972. | ||||||||||
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