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Apollo 17
Launched: 7 December 1972 UT
05:33:00 (12:33:00 a.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 11 December 1972 UT 19:54:57 (02:54:57 p.m. EST)
Landing Site: Taurus-Littrow (20.19 N, 30.77 E)
Returned to Earth: 19 December 1972 UT 19:24:59 (02:24:59 p.m. EST)
Eugene A. Cernan, commander
Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot
Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot
Apollo 17 was the sixth and last
Apollo mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface. On 11 December 1972
two astronauts (Commander Eugene A. Cernan and LM pilot Harrison H. Schmitt, the
first scientist on the Moon) landed in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon in
the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot
Ronald E. Evans) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the
astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar
samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 14 December and the astronauts
returned to Earth on 19 December.
Mission Profile
Apollo 17 lifted off at 05:33:00
UT (12:33:00 a.m. EST) on 7 December 1972 after a 2 hour, 40 minute delay due to
a malfunction of a launch sequencer. Launch was on Saturn V SA-512 from Pad 39A
at Kennedy Space Center and was the first nighttime launch of an Apollo. The
spacecraft began Earth parking orbit at 05:44:53 UT and translunar injection
took place at 08:45:37 UT. The CSM separated from the S-IVB at 09:15:29 UT and
CSM-LM docking took place at 09:29:45 UT. The S-IVB was released at 10:18 UT
into a lunar impact trajectory. (It impacted the lunar surface on 10 December at
20:32:42.3 UT at 4.21 S, 12.31 W with a velocity of 2.55 km/s at a 55 degree
angle from the horizontal.) A single mid-course correction requiring a 1.6
second burn of the Service Propulsion System (SPS) was made at 17:03:00 UT on 8
December. On December 10 at 15:05:40 UT the SIM bay door was jettisoned and a
398 second burn of the SPS was initiated at 19:47:23 UT to insert Apollo 17 into
lunar orbit. Approximately 4 hours 20 minutes later another maneuver lowered the
orbit to a perilune of 28 km. At 14:35 UT on 11 December Cernan and Schmitt
entered the LM.
The LM separated from the CSM at
17:20:56 UT on 11 December 1972 and reduced its orbit to 11.5 km perilune at
18:55:42 UT. The descent burn took place at 19:43 UT and the LM landed at
19:54:57 UT on the southeastern rim of Mare Serenitatis in a valley at Taurus-Littrow,
at 20.2 N, 30.8 E. Cernan and Schmitt made three moonwalk extra-vehicular
activities (EVAs) totaling 22 hours, 4 minutes. During this time they covered 30
km using the Lunar Roving Vehicle, collected 110.5 kg of lunar samples, took
photographs, and set up the ALSEP and performed other scientific experiments.
Evans performed experiments from orbit in the CSM during this time.
The LM lifted off from the Moon
at 22:54:37 UT on 14 December after 75 hours on the lunar surface. After the LM
docked with the CSM at 01:10:15 UT on 15 December the lunar samples and other
equipment were transferred from the LM and the LM was jettisoned at 04:51:31 UT.
The LM impacted the Moon at 06:50:20.8 UT at 19.96 N, 30.50 E, approximately 15
km from the Apollo 17 landing site, with an estimated impact velocity of 1.67
km/s at an angle ~4.9 degrees from horizontal. After another 1 1/2 days in lunar
orbit, transearth injection took place at 23:35:09 UT on 16 December. On 17
December at 20:27 UT Evans began a cislunar spacewalk EVA consisting of three
trips to the SM SIM bay to collect camera and lunar sounder film over a period
of 67 minutes. The CM and SM separated at 18:56:49 UT on 19 December. Apollo 17
splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 19 December 1972 at 19:24:59 UT (2:24:59
p.m. EST) after a mission elapsed time of 301 hrs, 51 mins, 59 secs. The
splashdown point was 17 deg 53 min S, 166 deg 7 min W, 350 nautical miles SE of
the Samoan Islands and 6.5 km (4 mi) from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga.
Performance of the spacecraft,
the third of the Apollo J-series missions, was excellent for all aspects of the
mission. The primary mission goals of investigating the lunar surface and
environment in the Taurus-Littrow region, emplacing and activating surface
experiments, performing experiments in lunar orbit, obtaining and returning
lunar surface samples, and enhancing the capability for future astronaut lunar
exploration were achieved. Cernan, 38, was a Navy captain with two previous
spaceflights (Gemini 9, Apollo 10), Evans, 39, was a Navy commander making his
first spaceflight, and Schmitt, 37, was a civilian also making his first
spaceflight. The backup crew for this mission was John Young, Stuart Roosa, and
Charles Duke. The Apollo 17 command module capsule "America" is on
display at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Credit: NASA
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