Apollo 17 was the first Apollo mission to include a scientist as part of the crew. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 17 mission — the last one that put humans on the moon. NPR takes a look at the mission and what it means for future travel to our lunar companion.

Fifty years ago, the visit of the Apollo 17 spacecraft would be the last time man set foot on the moon. Half a century later, we are still learning from that visit to Earth’s only natural satellite.

Those were the last words spoken on the moon by astronaut Gene Cernan, during the Apollo 17 mission, on Dec. 14, 1972. No one has set foot on the moon since. As we reach the 50th anniversary of ...

Marusiak noted that every Apollo mission carried instruments for detecting moonquakes. But the Apollo 17 mission, launched in 1972, was noteworthy because it left behind an array of seismometers ...

Apollo 17—the sixth and final mission of NASA’s history-making initiative to land human explorers on the moon—was a scientific breakthrough: During their 75-hour lunar stay, crewmembers ...

But Cernan packed his for the return trip. Another thing the astronauts brought home, and one of the most important legacies of the Apollo 17 mission, was a photograph of the entire round globe of ...

WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - During the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 - the last time people walked on the moon - U.S. astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan collected about 243 pounds (110.4 ...

This image of Earth, the first of its kind taken by a human from space, is rivalled only by Apollo 17’s “Blue Marble” photograph of the whole Earth as one of the most impactful visuals of ...