In the December 1972 issue of Popular Science, writer Alden P. Armagnac described Apollo 17 as “the most exciting geological field trip in history.” The lunar landing concluded NASA’s groundbreaking Apollo program and ended up being the last time the United States landed on the moon in the 20th century.
This week, after 51 years, the US returned to moon on Odysseus, an uncrewed lander that became the first privately-built spacecraft to survive a moon landing. Odysseus (or “Odie”) was built by Texas-based Intuitive Machines and carried a payload that included NASA navigation and tech experiments. NASA plans to use the instruments to collect vital data ahead of planned crewed missions later this decade.
To mark the American return to the moon, we wanted to take a look back at Apollo 17 through images. 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 several notable feats: the first astronaut-scientist on the moon (Schmitt), the first poem read from the surface of the moon, and circling the moon 75 times.
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 wait and see what dramatics 21st century moon exploration brings.
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