In the December 1972 challenge of Popular Science, author Alden P. Armagnac described Apollo 17 as “the most exciting geological field trip in history.” The lunar touchdown concluded NASA’s groundbreaking Apollo program and ended up being the last time the United States landed on the moon in the twentieth century.
This week, after 51 years, the US returned to moon on Odysseus, an uncrewed lander that turned the first privately-built spacecraft to outlive a moon touchdown. Odysseus (or “Odie”) was constructed by Texas-based Intuitive Machines and carried a payload that included NASA navigation and tech experiments. NASA plans to make use of the devices to gather important knowledge forward of deliberate crewed missions later this decade.
The December 1972 challenge of Popular Science included a preview of the Apollo 17 mission and a glance back at earlier Apollo missions.
To mark the American return to the moon, we wished to have a look back at Apollo 17 by way of photographs. Commander Gene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on December 7, 1972. The 12-day mission included a number of notable feats: the first astronaut-scientist on the moon (Schmitt), the first poem learn from the floor of the moon, and circling the moon 75 instances.
As Armagnac wrote: “When some future lunar settler writes the history of man on the moon, its most dramatic chapter is bound to be the Apollo adventures of 1969-1972.” We’ll have to attend and see what dramatics twenty first century moon exploration brings.
The crescent Earth rises above the lunar horizon on this {photograph} taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit throughout National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) remaining lunar touchdown mission in the Apollo program. While astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, commander, and Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot, descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Challenger” to discover the Taurus-Littrow area of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “America” in lunar orbit. Photo: NASAThe Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is photographed close to a big lunar boulder throughout the third Apollo 17 extravehicular exercise (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow touchdown web site. About half of the boulder is captured on this scene, photographed by astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, mission commander. While astronauts Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Challenger” to discover the lunar floor, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit. Photo: NASAAstronaut Eugene A. Cernan stands close to an over-hanging rock throughout the third Apollo 17 lunar floor extravehicular exercise (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow touchdown web site. Scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt took this {photograph}. The tripod-like object simply exterior the shaded space is the gnomon and photometric chart meeting which is used as a photographic reference to determine native vertical solar angle, scale and lunar colour. The gnomon is one among the Apollo Lunar Geology Hand Tools. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module “Challenger” to discover the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans remained with the Apollo 17 Command and Service Modules in lunar orbit. Photo: NASAAstronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 commander, is photographed subsequent to the deployed United States flag throughout lunar floor extravehicular exercise (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow touchdown web site. The highest a part of the flag seems to level towards our planet Earth in the distant background. This image was taken by scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module (LM) to discover the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit. Photo: NASA Wide-angle view of the Apollo 17 Taurus-Littrow lunar touchdown web site. To the left in the background is the Lunar Module. To the proper in the background is the Lunar Roving car. An Apollo 17 crewmember is photographed between the two factors. The shadow of the astronaut taking the {photograph} might be seen in the proper foreground. Photo: NASAIn this view looking the Lunar Module (LM) home windows reveals the United States Flag on the moon’s floor. This view appears towards the north Massif. The LM thrusters might be seen in foreground. While astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, commander, and Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot, descended in the LM “Challenger” to discover the Taurus-Littrow area of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “America” in lunar orbit. Photo: NASA An in depth-up view of the much-publicized orange soil which the Apollo 17 crewmen discovered at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) throughout the second Apollo 17 extravehicular exercise (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow touchdown web site. The orange soil was first noticed by scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt. While astronauts Schmitt and Eugene A. Cernan descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Challenger” to discover the lunar floor, astronaut Ronald E. Evans remained with the Apollo 17 Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit. The orange soil was by no means seen by the crewmen of the different lunar touchdown missions – Apollo 11 (Sea of Tranquility); Apollo 12 (Ocean of Storms); Apollo 14 (Fra Mauro); Apollo 15 (Hadley-Apennines); and Apollo 16 (Descartes). Photo: NASAScientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt loses his steadiness and heads for a fall throughout the second Apollo 17 extravehicular exercise (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow touchdown web site, as seen on this black and white copy taken from a colour tv transmission made by the colour RCA TV digicam mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle. Schmitt is lunar module pilot of the Apollo 17 lunar touchdown mission. Astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with Apollo 17 Command and Service Modules in lunar orbit whereas astronauts Schmitt and Eugene A. Cernan, commander, descended in the Lunar Module “Challenger” to discover the moon. Photo: NASAAn glorious view of the Apollo 17 Command and Service Modules (CSM) photographed from the Lunar Module (LM) “Challenger” throughout rendezvous and docking maneuvers in lunar orbit. The LM ascent stage, with astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt aboard, had simply returned from the Taurus-Littrow touchdown web site on the lunar floor. Astronaut Ronald E. Evans remained with the CSM in lunar orbit. Note the uncovered Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) Bay in Sector 1 of the Service Module (SM). Three experiments are carried in the SIM 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 digicam, mapping digicam and laser altimeter utilized in service module photographic duties. A portion of the LM is on the proper. Photo: NASA
