Apollo's Final Footsteps, 40 years later

By Nancy Atkinson - December 14, 2012 05:20 PM UTC | Missions

Will there come a time when we on Earth can look up at the Moon and know that people are living there permanently?

40 years ago today, humans left the Moon for the last time during our visits during the Apollo program. Author

Andrew Chaikin

has been creating a series of videos on why space exploration is important, and to mark the 40th anniversary of the last human footsteps on the moon, he looks back at Apollo 17's explorations and explains why he believes the Moon is the solar system's "jewel in the crown," beckoning us to return.

"The Moon is an ideal place for future astronauts to tackle the enormous challenges of living on other worlds," Chaikin says, "a kind of outward-bound school for learning to live off-planet that is just three days away from home."

You can see all of Chaikin's videos

here

, and here's an interview we did with Chaikin last year, "

Was the Apollo Program an Anomaly?

"

Additionally, read

a great article the Amy Shira Teitel wrote for us last year about the Apollo 17 mission's last Moonwalk.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com