Apollo 17: the last astronauts on the moon

This Dec. 11 (2022) marks the 50th anniversary of the moon landing of Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon. By the time of Apollo 17, public interest had lessened in the Apollo space program, and so it was decided that Apollo 17 would be the last mission to the moon. While most people know the story of Apollo 11 and Apollo 13, the story of Apollo 17 is often overlooked.

The Apollo 17 mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission (12 days 14 hours), greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type (7.6 kilometers or 4.7 miles), longest total lunar surface extravehicular activities (22 hours 4 minutes), largest lunar sample return (approximately 115 kg or 254 lb), longest time in lunar orbit (6 days 4 hours), and most lunar orbits (75).

During their extended stay on the moon, the Apollo 17 crew did some of the most important research and science experiments of all the missions, as well as bring back plenty of samples from the moon for further study. Learn more about Apollo 17 in the videos below: