Splashing down safely near American Samoa, Apollo 17 concluded the Apollo program and, to date, humanity's last crewed visits to the Moon. Commander Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the lunar surface, and geologist Harrison Schmitt had spent over three days exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley, collecting 110 kilograms of rock and soil. Cernan's final words on the surface—a promise that humans would return—remain unfulfilled more than five decades later.
Eugene Cernan climbed the ladder of the lunar module Challenger for the last time on December 14, 1972, pausing to speak words he had rehearsed: that America's challenge of today had forged man's destiny of tomorrow, and that they would return 'with peace and hope for all mankind.' No human being has walked on the Moon since.
Apollo 17 carried the only professional geologist to reach the Moon, Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt, whose trained eye spotted orange volcanic glass soil in the Taurus-Littrow valley that rewrote scientists' understanding of lunar volcanic history. The crew's lunar rover covered over 35 kilometers, farther than any previous mission, and they set records for the longest moonwalk time and the largest haul of lunar samples.
When the command module America hit the Pacific at 19:24 UTC on December 19, cameras aboard the recovery ship Ticonderoga captured the splashdown live, ending a program that had cost 24 billion dollars and consumed a decade of American ambition. Budget cuts, waning public interest, and shifting Cold War priorities had already killed three planned follow-on missions. The astronauts returned to a nation more preoccupied with Watergate and Vietnam than with rocks from the Sea of Serenity.
Key people: Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, Ronald Evans