Apollo 17
Launch vehicle:
Saturn 5
Launch: 7 December
1972
Recovery: 19
December 1972
Crew: Gene Cernan,
Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmidt
The third
of three Apollo J-series missions was also the sixth and final successful
American lunar landing. The ALSEP was deployed, and Cernan and Schmidt
conducted an extensive survey of the lunar surface aboard the LRV. Soil
samples taken at Shorty Crater revealed for the first time orange-colored
material in the soil. The last human activity on the moon's surface during
the Apollo program came at 5:23 pm EST on 13 December 1972, with lift-off
of the LM ascent module at 5:55 pm. Splashdown in the Pacific occurred
after 301 hours 51 minutes.
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