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| 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.
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
- Gene Cernan
- Ron Evans
- Harrison Schmitt
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.
On this mission the astronauts took a famous photograph of the earth known as "The Blue Marble".
| Preceded by : Apollo 16 |
Apollo program | Followed by : Skylab 2 |
