50 years ago, on a dark Florida December night, man launched his last mission to the moon.
Apollo 17 lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 11:33 pm on December 7. NASA didn’t want to end the Apollo program in fact they were planning missions expanding into Apollo’s 18-25! But the public had lost interest. Apollo 11 was the spotlight and after that it really didn't have the same touch. When Apollo 13 had a disaster in space, people snapped back for the next 4 days as the crew, Jim Lovell, Fred Hasie, and Jack Swigert fought hard with a dying spacecraft to get home. But when they were safely back on Earth the people moved on. Even though Apollo’s 14, 15, and 16 had been flawless, the American Congress was also getting bored. What was the point of moon missions that just landed for a few days and came back home? It was a camping trip for them.
NASA lost funding from Congress and had to cut Apollo down its last mission 17.
But Apollo 17 would end the epic program with a splash!
Three full days on the moon! Driving around in the faithful lunar car which everyone at NASA called the LVC (Lunar Roving Vehicle.)
The crew flying on this mission would be a good one, Gene Cernan was an experienced astronaut having 2 flights under his belt. Although he didn’t have the best luck on those missions. In 1966 he had problems during an EVA (spacewalk.) When discovered that his space suit had trapped air inside and he was like a balloon, Cernan almost lost his life when he tried to get inside the hatch of the spacecraft and was too big to fit through. He ended up bending every part of his body in an uncomfortable way and got through painfully like that.
Three years later when he was getting down low to the moon on Apollo 10, his spacecraft started to tumble, he managed to stop the spinning but it was still a close call. This time he hoped that he would have better luck.
The next astronaut, Jack Schmitt had never flown into space before and didn’t have a military background unlike his other crewmates; he was a geologist and would be the first non-test pilot astronaut to walk on the moon.
To round up the crew Ron Evans, who was also a first timer but one of Gene Cernan’s dearest friends. He had applied to be an astronaut before but failed. However when he tried a second time he made it. Evans would be orbiting the moon while Cernan and Schmitt spent three days on the moon.
The launch was flawless, and the mission stayed almost perfect on the three day voyage to the moon. The spacecraft got into orbit around the moon without a hitch. The landing was also not event full, Cernan guided the landing which they had named Challenger. (Not the space shuttle that was built in the 80's, this was a lander not a shuttle!)
Gene Cernan was the first off the latter followed by Schmitt, the astronauts grazed around that beautiful view for a while. And then set up instruments, the Apollo astronauts always said that the first day on the moon was just hard work. Setting up instruments to study science on the moon for days and possibly even years. (One of the tools still works to this day!)
After setting up, both astronauts had another grueling task ahead, unfolding the LRV, the car was folded up in a nice neat packet and the astronauts needed to get it on the ground. Deployment was not easy, the astronauts needed to open up the car slowly but not damage any parts of it. Fortunately the car was deployed without incident. The astronauts then did system checks and went to bed in Challenger.
Meanwhile, up in Lunar orbit astronaut Ron Evans did a risky untethered spacewalk. The main goal was to take instruments from a closed part of the spacecraft and take them back into the space capsule. Today when astronauts do untethered space walks they use a backpack known as SAFER also called Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue if an astronaut loses his or her grip instead of just floating away they can use the small thrusters on the pack to take them back into position. But back in the 70’s there was no such thing. Meaning if Evans lost his grip, he would doom himself and his crewmates on the moon. Evans was reasonable for telling the crew the spacecraft's positron and without him, the crew could never dock with him and get back home.
But luck would be on Evans' side, he would execute the spacewalk flawlessly.
Back on the moon, Cernan and Schmitt were cursing around on their sweet ride. The car didn’t have a top, but it didn’t matter. The car had special fenders that kept all the moon dust from covering the astronauts.
Cernan and Schmitt both arrived at their destination which was supposed to be a past volcanic area, Schmitt who was an experienced geologist got right to work he could scan the area for some great finds and collect rocks and soil to begin home. Cernan had taken geology classes so he could also be useful.
Schmitt spotted a huge boulder that looked geologically interesting so he and Cernan went up to it and with complex instruments (Which were considered complex back in the 70’s) such as a cordless drill and a portable hammer went to work and successfully collected parts of the boulder that could tell stories.
Just as the astronauts were rapping up this day, and were ready to ride home and problem suddenly smashed in. While loading on the tools, Cernan lost his grip on the hammer and to his horror it fell and smashed off the fender. He reported the problem to Mission control. But everyone there told them not to deal with the problem because they had limited oxygen left and they needed to get back to the lander right away. As the astronauts drove back, toxic moon dust sprayed their space suits and when they got back both astronauts spent several minutes dusting themselves off. As the tired astronauts slept, mission control debated what to do with the car problem. And they came out with a surprising solution: they could use back up maps to make a replacement fender!
The maps were thick paper so they wouldn’t rip or tear and when the astronauts tried the next day it worked better then anyone had expected. With that done the astronauts counted an uneventful third day on the moon and collected more rock and soil samples. But now their time had run out, it was time to go home.
After loading up Challenger with the rocks and soil that they collected,
Gene Cernan stood looking at the beautiful landscape and with pride said: "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."
And with that he climbed back in and the lander took off into the sky.