Looking back at the Apollo era now, it is incredible to think that the entire project was conceived and – in terms of its lunar aspirations – executed in just 13 years, with the missions to the land humans on the Moon all taking place within a span of just 42 months. It was originally initiated in early 1960 under the Eisenhower administration as a means for the US to expand its space capabilities by providing a vehicle system capable of being used in the construction of a space station and, eventually, of carrying humans to the Moon. But in 1961 the project was co-opted as the best means of achieving President Kennedy’s desire to see America “commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth”.
In doing so, Apollo set in motion the biggest single increase in NASA’s capabilities ever witnessed, giving rise to the facilities – such as the Merritt Island Launch Operations Centre with its massive VAB and two launch facilities at pad 39A and Pad 39B, and the sprawling mass of the Johnson Space Centre in Texas (often colloquially referred to as “Mission Control”) – people take for granted today as the most public elements of NASA’s infrastructure. Even so, by the time Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, the programme had already started towards closure: Apollo 20 had already been diverted for use in the Skylab project, while Apollo 18 and 19 would be cancelled early in 1971, leaving Apollo 17 as the last Apollo flight to the Moon.
A “J-Class” mission, Apollo 17 was one of only three of the lunar flights designated as being for “extensive scientific investigation”, the missions up to and including Apollo 14 being focused primarily on the task of making precision lunar landings, with all science activities running secondary to that. It was also the only Apollo mission to the Moon to carry a full trained scientist in the form of geologist Harrison H. Schmitt.
Initially, Schmitt had been slated for Apollo 18, but when that mission was cancelled, there was a push from the science community to have him moved to Apollo 17 – a push resisted by mission commander Eugene Cernan, who (understandably) wanted to keep his original team of himself, Ronald Evans and Joe Engle. However, Cernan’s own leadership of the mission was seen as questionable by some at NASA after pilot error on his part caused during a training flight resulted in a helicopter crash; so when it became clear the choice was to replace Engle with Schmitt or have the who crew replaced, Cernan capitulated – and he and Schmitt went on to form a strong working relationship and friendship.
The only night-time launch for an Apollo lunar surface mission, Apollo 17 proceeded precisely on schedule despite a brief launch-pad delay. Planned as the longest of the Apollo missions at 12 days and 14 hours, it would also become the most successful of the three lunar science flights for Apollo, with the science work commencing whist en route to the Moon, with the crew carrying out observations of Earth and its weather patterns. Also carried aboard the Command Module were 5 additional crew members: pocket mice the crew unofficially named Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum and Phooey. Carried in their own self-contain life support unit, they were part of an experiment to investigate exposure to cosmic rays in interplanetary space, although the findings of the experiment were ultimately inconclusive.
This science work took a further turn when, as the CSM and LM combination approached the Moon, a panel on the side of the Service Module was jettisoned to expose the contents of the Scientific Instruments Module (SIM), a battery of lunar science packages Evans would monitor whilst his crewmates were on the Moon’s surface.
twenty-four hours after entering orbit around the Moon, Schmitt and Cernan boarded the Lunar Module Challenger, departing the Command Module America on December 11th, 1972 to touch down within the Taurus-Littrow valley at 19:54:58 UTC that day. The landing marked the start of some 75 hours on the lunar surface. During this time, Cernan and Schmitt carried out 3 EVAs, two of them making use of the third Lunar Rover vehicle to the carried to the Moon.
The rover was deployed during the first EVA, with Cernan managing to repeat an error made by John Young on Apollo 16, accidentally ripping off one of the dust guards over the rover’s wheels such that both he and Schmitt would be showered in lunar “fines” (dust) kicked up by the wheel when the rover was in motion despite efforts to make repairs under Young’s supervision. In addition, this EVA also saw the two men deploy the surface experiments designed to be used within the vicinity of the Lunar Module.
The second EVA, on December 12th set a series of records for lunar surface operations: the furthest distance travelled from the LM (7.6 km), the longest distance travelled in a single EVA overall, the most time spent of the surface of the Moon in a single EVA (7 hours, 37 minutes) and the largest haul of samples from a single EVA to that point – 34 Kg. Along the way they visited several sites – Nansen Crater, at the foot of the South Massif; Shorty crater, and Camelot crater,
This EVA would go down in history for other reasons as well. At Shorty Crater, Schmitt came across orange soil, never before seen on the Moon. Initially it was thought he’d come across a volcanic vent in the lunar crust, but subsequent analysis of the material’s tiny volcanic beads revealed it has been formed some 3.5 billion years ago during the Moon’s volcanic period, and was exposed when a small asteroid slammed into the Moon to form Shorty a mere 20 million years ago.
Between Nansen and Shorty, the crew also stopped at a then-unnamed crater where Schmitt stumbled and fell in an awkward pirouette. While the fall left him uninjured, it prompted duty CapCom Robert Parker to quip to the crew that the Houston Ballet had called, requesting Schmitt audition for them on his return to Earth (in 2019, the crater was officially named Ballet Crater in honour of Schmitt’s tumble). Also during the EVA, both men (led by Schmitt) offered their own take on the popular song I Was Strolling in the Park One Day, which more than anything else revealed the bond that had grown between them.
The final Apollo era lunar EVA began at 22:35 UTC on December 13th, 1972, carrying out surveys of three “stations”: the North Massif and the Sculptured Hills; a house-sized boulder Cernan dubbed “Tracy’s Rock” after his daughter; and Van Serg crater. Whilst short in distance that the second EVA, this one set a further new record for samples collected – 66 Kg, including the 8 Kg sample designated 70215, a small part of which is now displayed at the Smithsonian Institution as one of the few samples of lunar rock the general public can touch.
At the end of the EVA, Schmitt and Cernan unveiled a plaque mounted on the side of the Lunar Module’s descent stage, commemorating both their own time on the Moon and the Apollo mission as a whole. Schmitt then climbed back into the LM, leaving Cernan as The Last Man On the Moon, expressing some of his thoughts thus:
I’m on the surface; and, as I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come – but we believe not too long into the future … And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.
– Eugene Cernan, December 13th, 1972
Cernan and Schmitt successfully lifted off from the lunar surface in the ascent stage of the LM on December 14th, 1972 at 22:54 UTC. Following a 7-minute ascent, they entered lunar orbit and coasted to a rendezvous with America, where Evans had been busy with his own work. Following docking and transfer, Challenger was jettisoned at 04:51 UTC on December 15th, 1972, to be successful de-orbited to crash on the Moon’s surface where seismometers left by several Apollo mission recorded the impact.
Continue reading “Space Sunday: 50 years – last and first at the Moon”
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