What is Apollo 17?

Apollo 17

Mission insignia
Mission statistics[1]
Mission name:	Apollo 17
Command Module:	CM-114
Service Module:	SM-114
Lunar Module:	LM-12
Booster:	Saturn V SA-512
Call sign:	Command module: America Lunar module: Challenger
Number of crew members:	3
Launch pad:	Kennedy Space Center, Florida LC 39A
Launch:	December 7, 1972 05:33:00 UTC
Lunar landing:	December 11, 1972 02:23:35 UTC Taurus-Littrow 20° 11' 26.88" N, 30° 46' 18.05" E (based on the IAU Mean Earth Polar Axis coordinate system)
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
Lunar surface time:	74 h 59 min 40 s
Lunar Roving Vehicle:	LRV-3
CMP EVA Duration:	1 h 5 min 44 s
Lunar sample mass:	110.52 kg (243.65 lb)
Landing:	December 19, 1972 19:24:59 UTC
Duration:	301 h 51 min 59 s
Time in lunar orbit:	147 h 43 min 37.11 s
Mass:	CSM: 30,369 kg LM: 16,456 kg
Crew photo
L-R: Schmitt, Cernan (seated) and Evans L-R: Schmitt, Cernan (seated) and Evans
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Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program. As of 2007, it remains the most recent manned Moon landing (the next planned human lunar landing -- Orion 17 will also be by NASA, and is planned for 2019, but no later than 2020).

Crew

• Eugene A. Cernan (3), commander
• Ronald E. Evans (1), command module pilot
• Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt (1), lunar module pilot

Backup crew

• John W. Young, commander
• Stuart Roosa, command module pilot
• Charles M. Duke

Support Crew

• Robert Overmyer
• Bob Parker
• Gordon Fullerton

Mission parameters

• Mass:
• Launch mass: 6,445,000 lb (2,923,400 kg)
• Total spacecraft: 102,900 lb (46,700 kg)
• CSM mass: 66,840 lb (30,320 kg), of which CM was 13,140 lb (5960 kg), SM 53,700 lb (24,360 kg)
• LM mass: transposition and docking stage 36,274 lb (16,454 kg), separation for lunar landing 36,771 lb (16,679 kg), ascent stage at liftoff 10,997 lb (4,988 kg)
• Earth orbits: 2 before leaving for Moon, approximately one on return
• Lunar orbits: 75
• Perigee: 104.9 mi (168.9 km)
• Apogee: 106.4 mi (171.3 km)
• Inclination: 28.526°
• Period: 87.83 min
• Perilune: 60.5 mi (97.4 km)
• Apolune: 195.6 mi (314.8 km)
• Inclination: 159.9°
• Period: ~120 min
• Landing Site: 20.19080° N - 30.77168° E or

20° 11' 26.88" N - 30° 46' 18.05" E

Docking

• Undocked: December 11 1972 - 17:20:56 UTC
• Docked: December 15 1972 - 01:10:15 UTC

EVAs

• Cernan and Schmitt - EVA 1
• EVA 1 Start: December 11 1972, 23:54:49 UTC
• EVA 1 End: December 12 07:06:42 UTC
• Duration: 7 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds
• Cernan and Schmitt - EVA 2
• EVA 2 Start: December 12 1972, 23:28:06 UTC
• EVA 2 End: December 13 07:05:02 UTC
• Duration: 7 hours, 36 minutes, 56 seconds
• Cernan and Schmitt - EVA 3
• EVA 3 Start: December 13 1972, 22:25:48 UTC
• EVA 3 End: December 14 05:40:56 UTC
• Duration: 7 hours, 15 minutes, 08 seconds
• Evans - Transearth EVA 4
• EVA 4 Start: December 17 1972, 20:27:40 UTC
• EVA 4 End: December 17 21:33:24 UTC
• Duration: 1 hour, 05 minutes, 44 seconds

The splashdown point was 17° 52′ S, 166° 7′ W, 350 nautical miles (650 km) SE of the Samoan Islands and 6.5 km (4 mi) from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga. Apollo 17 landed approximately 640 meters from its target point.

Mission highlights

One of the last two men 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 109 kg (240 pounds) of rocks during three Moonwalks. The crew roamed for 34 km (21 miles) through the Taurus-Littrow valley in their rover, discovered orange-colored soil, and left the most comprehensive set of instruments in the ALSEP on the lunar surface. Their mission was the last in the Apollo lunar program.

Introduction

Crew members were Eugene Cernan, commander; Ron Evans, command module pilot; and Harrison Schmitt, lunar module pilot.

The landing site for this mission was on the southeastern rim of the Mare Serenitatis, in the southwestern Montes Taurus. This was a dark mantle between three high, steep massifs, in an area known as the Taurus-Littrow region. Pre-mission photographs showed boulders deposited along the bases of the mountains, which could provide bedrock samples. The area also contained a landslide, several impact craters, and some dark craters which could be volcanic.

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 (243.6 lb) 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 December 15 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".

Mission notes

• Schmitt, a geologist, was the first (and to date, only) scientist to walk on the Moon.
• Like the astronauts of Apollos 10, 12, 13, and 14 before them, the Apollo 17 crew were recovered in Pacific waters near American Samoa after splashdown, and were flown from the recovery ship to the airport at Tafuna where they were greeted with an enthusiastic (and well practiced) Samoan reception before being flown on to Honolulu, thence to Houston.
• The plaque left on the ladder of the descent stage of Challenger read: Here Man completed his first explorations of the moon. December 1972 AD. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind. The plaque showed two hemispheres of Earth and the near side of the Moon, plus the signatures of Cernan, Evans, Schmitt, and President Nixon.
• Commander Eugene Cernan took a Czechoslovak flag with him to the Moon because his ancestors came from Czechoslovakia. Later he gave it to the Institute of astronomy in Ondrejov (Czech republic).
• Schmitt was originally due to fly on the cancelled Apollo 18 but following pressure from the science community was moved up to LM pilot on Apollo 17 in place of Joe Engle.
• Apollo 17 broke several records set by previous flights, including longest manned lunar landing flight; longest total lunar surface extravehicular activities; largest lunar sample return, and longest time in lunar orbit.
• Apollo 17 was the last crewed NASA mission to land on the moon in the 20th century. The next crewed NASA mission to land on the Moon is very tentatively scheduled to occur in 2019 with Orion 17 mission.

Quotes

"Ah! You see one Earth, you've seen them all."

– Jack Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot.

"As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come — but we believe not too long into the future — I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will record — that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."

– Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 Commander. Last man to walk on the moon, December 14 1972.

"Okay, Jack. Let's get this mother outta here."

– Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 Commander. Apocryphal last 'informal' words said on the lunar surface, one second before lunar liftoff (does not appear in voice transcripts.)

Mission insignia

The circular patch is one of the most detailed of the Apollo series. The official NASA press release said: "The insignia is dominated by the image of Apollo, the Greek sun god. Suspended in space behind the head of Apollo is an American eagle of contemporary design, the red bars of the eagle's wing represent the bars in the U.S. flag; the three white stars symbolize the three astronaut crewmen. The background is deep blue space and within it are the Moon, the planet Saturn and a spiral galaxy or nebula. The Moon is partially overlaid by the eagle's wing suggesting that this is a celestial body that man has visited and in that sense conquered. The thrust of the eagle and the gaze of Apollo to the right and toward Saturn and the galaxy is meant to imply that man's goals in space will someday include the planets and perhaps the stars. The colors of the emblem are red, white and blue, the colors of our flag; with the addition of gold, to symbolize the golden age of space flight that will begin with this Apollo 17 lunar landing. The Apollo image used in this emblem was the Apollo of Belvedere sculpture now in the Vatican Gallery in Rome. This emblem was designed by artist Robert T. McCall in collaboration with the astronauts." The insignia is surrounded by a light gray band with names of the crew and the words APOLLO XVII.

Capsule locations

The Command Module America is currently on display at Space Center Houston in Houston, Texas.

The Lunar Module Challenger impacted the Moon 15 December 1972 at 06:50:20.8 UT (1:50 AM EST) 19.96 N, 30.50 E.

Media

Depiction in fiction

Portions of the Apollo 17 mission are dramatized in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon episode entitled "Le Voyage dans la Lune".

Additionally, there have been fictional astronauts in film, literature and television who have been described as "the last man to walk on the moon," implying they were crew members on Apollo 17. One such character was Steve Austin in the television series The Six Million Dollar Man; in a latter episode of the series, Austin's character was asked what space mission he flew on, and he answered, "Apollo 17" (the series first appeared on television in 1973 as made-for-TV movie, however the novel upon which it was based — Cyborg — was published before the mission and does not make such a reference). Another example is the character of Captain Tanner in the science fiction film Deep Impact.

The mission patch for Apollo 17 was used for the mission patch for the NASA space ship Charybdis in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" entitled "The Royale".

See also

• Extra-vehicular activity
• List of spacewalks
• Splashdown
• List of artificial objects on the Moon
• Google Moon

Notes

References

• NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
• Apollo 17 Info by NASA
• APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff (NASA)
• Development of Manned Space Flight, American and Soviet NASA SP-4209
• The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology
• Apollo Program Summary Report
• Apollo 17 Characteristics - SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK
• Apollo 17 entry at Apollo Lunar Surface Journal - Provides an extensive insight of the mission, along with full transcripts and detailed interviews with the crewmembers.
• Lattimer, Dick (1985). 'All We Did was Fly to the Moon. Whispering Eagle Press. ISBN 0-9611228-0-3.

External links

• Apollo 17 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica
• September 1973 National Geographic Magazine article
• Apollo simulation for Orbiter spaceflight sim
• Apollo 17 - Final Reflections on Apollo Video as the crew wraps up the final Apollo mission
• Apollo landing Locations at Google Moon
• transcript of lifting off from the Moon
• Apollo Lunar Surface VR Panoramas QTVR panoramas
• Apollo 17 Voice Transcript Pertaining to the Geology of the Landing Site
• Apollo 17 Science Experiments

•  • [ e] Missions of the Apollo program
SA-1 SA-2 SA-3 SA-4 QTV Pad Abort Test-1 SA-5 A-001 A-101 A-102 A-002 A-103 A-003 A-104 Pad Abort Test-2 A-105 A-004 AS-201 AS-203 AS-202 Apollo 1 Apollo 4 Apollo 5 Apollo 6 Apollo 7 Apollo 8 Apollo 9 Apollo 10 Apollo 11 Apollo 12 Apollo 13 Apollo 14 Apollo 15 Apollo 16 Apollo 17 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Canceled Apollo missions