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| Mission Insignia | |
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| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission Name: | Apollo 17 |
| Call Sign: | Command module: America Lunar module: Challenger |
| Number of Crew: | 3 |
| Launch: | December 7, 1972 05:33:00 UTC Kennedy Space Center LC 39A |
| Lunar Landing: | December 11, 1972 19:54:57 UTC 20° 11' 26.88" N - 30° 46' 18.05" E Taurus-Littrow |
| Lunar EVA length: | 1st: 7 h 11 min 53 s 2nd: 7 h 36 min 56 s 3rd: 7 h 15 min 8 s Total: 22 h 3 min 57 s |
| CMP EVA: | 1 h 5 min 44 s |
| Lunar Surface Time: | 74 h 59 min 40 s |
| Lunar Sample Mass: | 110.52 kg |
| Landing: | December 19, 1972 19:24:59 UTC 17° 53' S - 166° 7' W |
| Duration: | 12 d 13 h 51 min 59 s |
| Number of Lunar Orbits: | 75 |
| Time in Lunar Orbit: | 147 h 43 min 37.11 s |
| Mass: | CSM 30,369 kg; LM 16,456 kg |
| Crew Picture | |
| Apollo 17 Crew | |
Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program, and was the sixth and last mission to date to land on the Moon. It was the first night launch, and the final mission, of the Apollo program.
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 last man to set foot on the Moon was also the first scientist-astronaut/geologist Harrison Schmitt. While Evans circled in "America," Schmitt and Cernan collected a record 108.86 kilograms of rocks during three Moonwalks. The crew roamed for 33.80 kilometers through the Taurus-Littrow valley in their rover, discovered orange-colored soil, and left behind a plaque attached to their lander Challenger, which read: "Here Man completed his first exploration of the Moon, December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind." The Apollo lunar program had ended.
Crew members were Gene Cernan, commander; Ron Evans, command module pilot; and Harrison Schmitt, lunar module pilot.
A J-class mission, featuring the Lunar Rover, they conducted three lunar surface excursions, lasting 7.2, 7.6 and 7.3 hours. The mission returned 110.5 kg of samples from the Moon.
The Command module is currently on display at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. The lunar module impacted the Moon on 15 December 1972 at 06:50:20.8 UT (1:50 AM EST) at 19.96 N, 30.50 E.
On this mission the astronauts took a famous photograph of the earth known as "The Blue Marble".
| Preceded by : Apollo 16 | Apollo program | Followed by : Skylab 2
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