Apollo 17
Mission Insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission Name:Apollo 17
Call Sign:Command module: America
Lunar module: Challenger
Crew:3
Launch:December 7, 1972
05:33:00 UTC
Kennedy Space Center LC 39A
Lunar Landing:December 11, 1972
19:54:57 UTC
20.2 N, 30.8 E -- Taurus-Littrow
Lunar EVA length:22.1 hours
Lunar Surface Time:3 days, 3 hours
Landing: December 19, 1972
19:24:59 UTC
17 deg 53 min S, 166 deg 7 min W
Duration:12 days, 13 hours 52 minutes

Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the US Apollo program, and was the sixth and last mission to date to land on the moon. It was the first night launch. It was the final mission of the Apollo program.

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

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 of samples from the moon.

Mission notes:

  • Schmitt, a geologist, was the first scientist on the moon.

Table of contents
1 Mission Parameters
2 External Link

Mission Parameters

  • Mass:
    • Launch mass: 2,923,387 kg
    • Total spacecraft: 46,678 kg
      • CSM mass: 30,320 kg, of which CM was 5960 kg, SM 24,360 kg
      • LM mass: 16,448 kg , of which ascent stage was 4985 kg, descent stage 11,463 kg
  • Earth orbits: 2 before leaving for Moon, about one on return
  • Lunar orbits: 75

Crew

The Command module is currently on display at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. The lunar module impacted the Moon on 15 December 1972 at 06:50:20.8 UT (1:50 AM EST) at 19.96 N, 30.50 E.


Schmitt took this picture of Cernan flanked by an American flag and their lunar rover's umbrella-shaped high-gain antenna near the beginning of their third and final excursion across the lunar surface. The prominent Sculptured Hills lie in the background while Schmitt's reflection can just be made out in Cernan's helmet.

Preceded by :
Apollo 16
Apollo program Followed by :
Skylab 2

External Link