Revision 1971 of "User:H.J." on enwiki

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right"
|+<font size="+1">'''Apollo 17'''</font>
|-
!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"|Mission Insignia
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|[[Image:Ap17recon.jpg|Apollo 17 insignia]]
|-
!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"|Mission Statistics
|-
|'''Mission Name:'''||Apollo 17
|-
|'''Call Sign:'''||Command module:<br />''America''<br />Lunar module:<br />''Challenger''
|-
|'''Number of<br />Crew:'''||3
|-
|'''Launch:'''||[[December 7]], [[1972]]<br />05:33:00 [[UTC]]<br />[[Kennedy Space Center]]<br />LC 39A
|-
|'''Lunar Landing:'''||[[December 11]], 1972<br />19:54:57 UTC<br />20° 11' 26.88" N - 30° 46' 18.05" E<br />Taurus-Littrow
|-
|'''Lunar EVA<br />length:'''||1st: 7 h 11 min 53 s<br />2nd: 7 h 36 min 56 s<br />3rd: 7 h 15 min 8 s<br />Total: 22 h 3 min 57 s
|-
|'''CMP EVA:'''||1 h 5 min 44 s
|-
|'''Lunar Surface<br />Time:'''||74 h 59 min 40 s
|-
|'''Lunar Sample<br />Mass:'''|| 110.52 kg
|-
|'''Splashdown:'''||[[December 19]], [[1972]]<br />19:24:59 UTC<br />17° 53' S - 166° 7' W
|-
|'''Duration:'''||12 d 13 h 51 min 59 s
|-
|'''Number of<br />Lunar Orbits:'''||75
|-
|'''Time in<br />Lunar Orbit:'''||147 h 43 min 37.11 s
|-
|'''Mass:'''||CSM 30,369 kg;<br />LM 16,456 kg
|-
!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"|Crew Picture
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|[[Image:GPN-2000-001151.jpg|center|thumb|225px|Apollo 17 crew portrait (L-R: Schmitt, Cernan (seated) and Evans)]]
|-
!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"|Night Launch
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|[[Image:Apollo 17 The Last Moon Shot.jpg|center|thumb|285|Apollo 17 Night Launch - ''The Last Moon Shot'']]
|}

'''Apollo 17''' was the eleventh [[manned space mission]] in the [[NASA]] [[Project Apollo|Apollo program]], and was the sixth and last mission to date to land on the [[Moon]]. It was the first night launch, and the final mission, of the Apollo program.

== Crew ==
*[[Gene Cernan]] (3), commander
*[[Ron Evans]] (1), command module pilot
*[[Harrison Schmitt|Harrison "Jack" Schmitt]] (1), lunar module pilot

<small>(1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission.</small>

=== Backup crew ===
*[[John_W._Young|John Young]], commander
*[[Stuart Roosa]], command module pilot
*[[Charles Duke]], lunar module pilot

=== Support Crew ===
*[[Robert Overmyer]]
*[[Robert A. Parker|Bob Parker]]
*[[Gordon Fullerton]]

== Mission parameters ==
*'''Mass:'''
**Launch mass: 2,923,387 kg
**Total spacecraft: 46,678 kg
***CSM mass: 30,320 kg, of which CM was 5960 kg, SM 24,360 kg
***LM mass: 16,448 kg, of which ascent stage was 4985 kg, descent stage 11,463 kg
*'''Earth orbits:''' 2 before leaving for Moon, about one on return
*'''Lunar orbits:''' 75

*'''[[Perigee]]:''' 168.9 km
*'''[[Apogee]]:''' 171.3 km
*'''[[Inclination]]:''' 28.526° 
*'''[[Orbital period|Period]]:''' 87.83 min

*'''[[Perilune]]:''' 97.4 km
*'''[[Apolune]]:''' 314.8 km
*'''[[Inclination]]:''' 159.9° 
*'''[[Orbital period|Period]]:''' min
*'''Landing Site:''' [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunar_sites.html 20.19080° N - 30.77168° E] or <br /> 20° 11' 26.88" N - 30° 46' 18.05" E

=== Docking ===
*'''Undocked''': [[December 11]], [[1972]] - 17:20:56 UTC
*'''Docked''': [[December 15]], [[1972]] - 01:10:15 UTC

=== Moon walk ===
* '''''Cernan and Schmitt''''' - EVA 1
*'''EVA 1 Start''': [[December 11]], [[1972]], 23:54:49 UTC
*'''EVA 1 End''': December 12, 07:06:42 UTC
*'''Duration''': 7 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds

* '''''Cernan and Schmitt''''' - EVA 2
*'''EVA 2 Start''': [[December 12]], [[1972]], 23:28:06 UTC
*'''EVA 2 End''': December 13, 07:05:02 UTC
*'''Duration''': 7 hours, 36 minutes, 56 seconds

* '''''Cernan and Schmitt''''' - EVA 3 
*'''EVA 3 Start''': [[December 13]], [[1972]], 22:25:48 UTC
*'''EVA 3 End''': December 14, 05:40:56 UTC
*'''Duration''': 7 hours, 15 minutes, 08 seconds

* ''''' Evans ''''' - Transearth EVA 4 
*'''EVA 4 Start''': [[December 17]], [[1972]], 20:27:40 UTC
*'''EVA 4 End''': December 17, 21:33:24  UTC
*'''Duration''': 1 hour, 05 minutes, 44 seconds

=== See also ===
* [[Extra-vehicular activity]]
* [[List of spacewalks]]
* [[Splashdown]]

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 (CV-14)|USS ''Ticonderoga'']].

== Mission highlights ==
One of the last two men to set foot on the Moon was also the first scientist-astronaut, geologist Harrison Schmitt. While Evans circled in "America," Schmitt and Cernan collected a record 108.86 kilograms of rocks during three Moonwalks. The crew roamed for 33.80 kilometers through the Taurus-Littrow valley in their rover, discovered orange-colored soil, and left the most comprensive set of instruments in the ALSEP on the lunar surface.  The Apollo lunar program had ended. 

=== Introduction ===
Crew members were [[Gene Cernan]], commander; [[Ron Evans]], command module pilot; and [[Harrison Schmitt]], lunar module pilot.

A J-class mission, featuring the [[Lunar Rover]], they conducted three lunar surface excursions, lasting 7.2, 7.6 and 7.3 hours. The mission returned 110.5 kg of samples from the Moon.

The Command module is currently on display at NASA's [[Johnson Space Center]], in [[Houston, Texas]]. The lunar module impacted the Moon on 15 December 1972 at 06:50:20.8 UT (1:50 AM EST) at 19.96 N, 30.50 E. 

On this mission the astronauts took a famous photograph of the earth known as "[[The Blue Marble]]".

=== Mission notes ===
*Schmitt, a [[geologist]], was the first (and to date, only) scientist on the moon.

*Like the astronauts of Apollos [[Apollo 10|10]], [[Apollo 12|12]], [[Apollo 13|13]], and [[Apollo 14|14]] before it, the Apollo 17 crew were recovered in [[Pacific]] waters near [[American Samoa]] after [[splashdown]], and were flown from the recovery ship to the airport at [[Tafuna, American Samoa|Tafuna]] where they were greeted with an enthusiastic (and well practiced!) Samoan reception before being flown on to [[Honolulu]], thence to [[Houston]].

*The plaque left on the ladder of the descent stage of [[Challenger]] read: ''Here Men from the Planet Earth completed their first exploration of the moon. December 1972 AD.  May the sprit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind''.  The plaque showed two hemispheres of Earth and the near side of the Moon, plus the signatures of Cernan, Evans, Schmitt, and [[Richard Nixon|President Nixon]].

[[Image:As17-140-21391c1.jpg|left|thumb|363px|''Schmitt took this picture of Cernan flanked by an American flag and their [[lunar rover]]'s umbrella-shaped high-gain antenna near the beginning of their third and final excursion across the lunar surface. The prominent Sculptured Hills lie in the background while Schmitt's reflection can just be made out in Cernan's helmet.'']]

[[Image:Apollo_17_Trans-Earth_EVA.jpg|left|thumb|350px|Command Module pilot Ron Evans performs a trans-earth EVA to retieve film from the Apollo 17 SIM Bay camera. (NASA)]] 

=== Reference ===
* [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html NASA NSSDC Master Catalog]
* [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo17info.html Apollo 17 Info by NASA]
* [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm  APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff (NASA)]
* [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4209/appb.htm Development of Manned Space Flight, American and Soviet NASA SP-4209]
* [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/cover.htm The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology]
* [http://history.nasa.gov/apsr/apsr.htm Apollo Program Summary Report]
* [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol3/table2.45.htm Apollo 17 Characteristics - SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK]
* [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.html Apollo 17 entry at Apollo Lunar Surface Jurnal] - Provides an extensive insight of the mission, along with full transcripts and detailed interviews with the crewmembers.

== External links ==
* [http://www.astronautix.com/flights/apollo17.htm Apollo 17 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica]
* [http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0407/online_extra.html?c=Newsletters&n=2Q04_Insider2&t=internal September 1973 National Geographic Magazine article]

{{Project Apollo| before=[[Apollo 16]]| after=[[Skylab 1]] <br> [[Skylab 2]]}}

[[Category:Lunar spacecraft]]
[[Category:Human spaceflights]]
[[Category:Apollo program]]

[[da:Apollo 17]]
[[de:Apollo 17]]
[[et:Apollo 17]]
[[fr:Apollo 17]]
[[it:Apollo 17]]
[[nl:Apollo 17]]
[[pl:Apollo 17]]
[[pt:Apollo 17]]
[[fi:Apollo 17]]