Revisiting humanity's last crewed Moon mission ahead of Artemis II launch

With NASA closer than ever to the Artemis II launch, the world again focuses on December 1972, when humans last walked on the Moon. Apollo 17, the curtain-closer of the original Moon program, closed one era and quietly set the stage for humanity’s eventual return to the Moon, according to NASA. 

Apollo 17 was more than a farewell; it was a sophisticated scientific mission. Led by Commander Eugene Cernan, the crew included Harrison Schmitt - the first professional geologist to set foot on the Moon-and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans. The team landed in Taurus-Littrow Valley, a carefully selected site believed to hold a mix of ancient lunar crust and younger volcanic rocks. This mission belonged to the “J-series,” a group of advanced flights that employed more capable hardware and the famed battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) to cover unprecedented ground, according to NASA. 

The whole mission was a marathon of endurance and precision, lasting more than 12 days, 13 hours and 52 minutes in space. In that time, the crew completed 75 orbits around the Moon, per NASA. The mission included a record 75-hour surface stay, allowing the astronauts more than three days to explore. Its lunar orbit track kept an altitude of 105.86 miles with a very precise 28.5-degree inclination.

Cernan and Schmitt spent their time on the surface carrying out a broad range of experiments that looked at the Moon's interior and atmosphere. They deployed the ALSEP, a suite of instruments that was designed to measure moonquakes, heat flow from the core, and the effects of tiny meteorite impacts. It also carried biological experiments to study how cosmic radiation influences living organisms-a fact that remains relevant today, with NASA eyeing longer Artemis stays. When the Command Module splashed down on December 19, 1972, it closed a chapter of exploration that had lain undisturbed for over fifty years. Now, with Artemis II getting ready to take a new generation of astronauts to the Moon, the experiences of that 75-hour surface stay on Apollo 17 are more useful than ever.

NASA is currently getting ready for Artemis II, a 10-day mission that will launch four astronauts from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, continuing the legacy of Apollo 17. Being the first time a crew has flown aboard the potent Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, this flight represents a significant milestone. The crew will travel thousands of miles past the Moon and into deep space, but there won't be a lunar landing on this mission.

For NASA, this trip serves as a crucial "test drive" that enables engineers to observe how life-support, navigation, and communication systems manage the severe radiation and harsh conditions of the deep-space environment. The subsequent missions depend on Artemis II's success. NASA paves the way for a lunar landing later this decade and, eventually, the first human footprints on Mars by demonstrating that the Orion spacecraft can keep people safe far from Earth.

Visual record of humanity’s Moon landing mission in 1972 (Apollo 17)

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