Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan with the lunar rover in December 1972, in the moon's Taurus-Littrow valley. Credit: NASA
For a brief period in the 1960s and 1970s, 12 people ventured all the way to the surface of the Moon. The accomplishment at the time was hailed as a political victory over the Soviet Union, but as decades have passed the landings have taken on more symbolic meaning with NASA — a time of optimism, of science and of the American spirit.
The last lunar landing was Apollo 17, which took place on Dec. 11, 1972. Commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt did three moonwalks in the Taurus-Littrow valley, scoping out the highlands to try to get a geologic sense of the area. Among their more memorable findings are orange soil. You can see some pictures from their sojourn below.
As part of their ongoing mission to push the boundaries of space exploration, NASA’s cutting-edge…
The odds of 2024 YR4 striking Earth in 2032 have doubled to 2.3%, but that's…
On October 14th, 2024, NASA's Europa Clipper mission launched atop a Falcon Heavy rocket from…
Our Moon continues to surprise us with amazing features. Scientists recently shared new information about…
How would detecting methane help astronomers identify if exoplanets, or even exomoons, have life as…
In the more than 60 years since the Space Age began, humans have sent more…