December 19, 1972
ABOVE VIDEO: Last year, it was the 50th Anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 17 Moon Mission
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Apollo 17, the final NASA mission to send humans to the Moon for Project Apollo, splashed down on this day in 1972.
The mission was the longest Apollo mission.
Apollo 17 had the longest stay on the Moon.
It also had the longest distance traveled by a lunar rover.
The mission had the most lunar samples collected and the most photographs taken.
On Dec. 7, 1972, NASA astronauts Harrison Schmitt, Eugene Cernan, and Ronald Evans lifted off on Apollo 17—the final mission of the Apollo program. Cernan and Schmitt landed on the Moon on Dec. 11, spending three days on the lunar surface before rejoining Evans in orbit and returning to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 19.
Apollo 17 was the most recent mission to land humans on the Moon—and our next one isn’t far away. As our Artemis missions prepare to return humans to the Moon and build a sustainable lunar presence, join us for a look back at Apollo 17.
The post THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Apollo 17 Splashes Down For the Final Time in 1972 appeared first on Space Coast Daily.