1972

Last on the Moon

Eugene A. Cernan (1934–2017), Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt (b. 1935), Ronald E. Evans, Jr. (1933–1990)

The last great voyage of lunar discovery in the Apollo Moon-landing series was conducted in December 1972. Astronauts Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt and Eugene A. Cernan landed the lunar module Challenger in a narrow valley south of Littrow crater in the Taurus Mountains, which ring the southeast rim of the Mare Serenitatis. The area was chosen because it is along a boundary between dark volcanic mare materials and bright highlands materials, and evidence from orbital photographs suggested that the region would provide a rich diversity of geologic information about the Moon.

Schmitt and Cernan did indeed have an amazing adventure during their stay on the Moon. They set Apollo program records by being out on the surface for nearly 22 hours, by driving their lunar rover more than 22 miles (35 kilometers), and by collecting about 242 pounds (110 kilograms) of rocks and soils during three long, busy traverses around the valley. By the time they rejoined pilot Ronald E. Evans, Jr., back in the command module America three days later, they were at the brink of physical exhaustion.

Jack Schmitt was the first and only scientist by training (a geologist) to go to the Moon, and his expert eye was critical in identifying a number of key samples, including a patchy and hard-to-spot orange-colored soil that he had noticed near a small impact crater called Shorty. Later analysis of these samples, and related black soils from the same region, showed them to contain tiny titanium-rich glass spheres that had been formed by explosive volcanic eruptions on the Moon. Some of these spheres have been found to contain tiny amounts of water, proving that the Moon’s interior isn’t completely dry.

Schmitt and Cernan were the last people to visit the Moon; they and Evans were also the last humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit—a journey that took place more than 40 years ago.

Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan bounces along to his next sampling spot in this photograph from a large panorama taken by fellow astronaut Jack Schmitt near a boulder field along the rim of Camelot crater in the Taurus-Littrow Valley.