Mission Details
| Mission Name: Apollo 17 |
| Mission Type: Crewed Lunar Lander |
| Operator: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) |
| Launching State: United States |
| Location: Taurus-Littrow |
| Latitude: 20.1923 |
| Longitude: 30.7655 |
| Launch Date: 7 December 1972, 05:33:00 UT |
| Landing Date: 11 December 1972, 19:54:57 UT |
| Crew: Eugene A. Cernan, commander; Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot; Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot |
| Objects on or Related to Site: N/A |
| Image Source: NASA |
Description
The mission of the Apollo program was to perform a crewed lunar landing.
The first four flights, including Apollo 10, tested the equipment used to ultimately place humans on the lunar surface. The first Apollo flight happened in 1968. The first Moon landing took place in 1969. The last Moon landing was in 1972. A total of twelve humans walked on the Moon as a result of the Apollo program. The astronauts conducted scientific research, studied the lunar surface and collected Moon rocks to bring back to Earth.
Per NASA: Scientific objectives of the Apollo 17 mission included, geological surveying and sampling of materials and surface features in a preselected area of the Taurus-Littrow region; deploying and activating surface experiments; and conducting in-flight experiments and photographic tasks during lunar orbit and transearth coast. These objectives included deployed experiments, such as the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, with a heat flow experiment; lunar seismic profiling, or LSP; lunar surface gravimeter, or LSG; lunar atmospheric composition experiment, or LACE; and lunar ejecta and meteorites, or LEAM. The mission also included lunar sampling and lunar orbital experiments. Biomedical experiments included the Biostack II experiment and the BIOCORE experiment.
Read more:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo17.html
Heritage Consideration
Considered one of the most well-documented missions in human history, Apollo 17 hosted the first scientist in space, geologist Harrison Schmitt.
Object on or Related to Site
| Object Name: Lunar Module Challenger (Descent Stage, plaque attached) | |
| Cospar: None | |
| Norad: None | |
| Location: 20.19080 ˚ N, 30.77168 ˚ E | |
| Launch Date: 7 December 1972, 05:33:00 UT | |
| Landing Date: 11 December 1972, 19:54:57 UT | |
| Deployment: N/A | |
| End Date: 14 December 1972 | |
| Function: The Apollo 17 descent stage was designed to support a powered landing on the Moon, support extra-vehicular activities, and provide a launch pad for the ascent stage. | |
| Image Source: Pending |
Description
The Apollo 17 Lunar Module (LM) “Challenger” was the sixth and last lunar lander in the Apollo program. It carried two astronauts, Commander Eugene A. Cernan and LM pilot Harrison H. Schmitt, the eleventh and twelfth men to walk on the Moon. Schmitt was the first scientist-astronaut to walk on the Moon. The LM also carried a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) that contained scientific experiments to be deployed and left on the lunar surface, and other scientific and sample collection apparatus.
Read more: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1972-096C
Object on or Related to Site
| Object Name: S-IVB | |
| Cospar: None | |
| Norad: None | |
| Location: -4.167 ˚ N, -12.33 ˚ E | |
| Launch Date: 7 December 1972, 05:33:00 UT | |
| Landing Date: 10 December 1972 | |
| Deployment: N/A | |
| End Date: N/A | |
| Function: Propulsion | |
| Image Source: Pending |
Description
The S-IVB was the third stage of NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which propelled Apollo astronauts to the Moon. Beginning with the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, S-IVBs were sent to impact the lunar surface. Earlier Apollo missions had placed seismometers on the Moon, allowing scientists to study the object’s interior structure when the leftover rocket stages hit.
Read more: https://www.space.com/31503-apollo-16-moon-rocket-crash-site-photo.html”
Object on or Related to Site
| Object Name: Lunar seismic profiling experiment (S-203) | |
| Cospar: None | |
| Norad: None | |
| Location: Precise location unknown or undisclosed. | |
| Launch Date: 7 December 1972, 05:33:00 UT | |
| Landing Date: 11 December 1972, 19:54:57 UT | |
| Deployment: | |
| End Date: N/A | |
| Function: Determine the detailed structure of the upper kilometer of the lunar crust. | |
| Image Source: Pending |
Description
The purpose of this experiment was to measure the physical parameters of primary and secondary particles impacting the lunar surface. The Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment on Apollo 17 involved the detonation of a series of small explosives. The seismic waves or ground motions caused by these explosions were measured by a network of geophones. Eight explosive charges were positioned during the three EVAs at distances of up to 3.5 kilometers from the LM. These charges had masses of 57 grams to 2.7 kilograms. The explosives were detonated by radio control after the astronauts left the lunar surface.
Read more: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_17/experiments/lspe/
These experiments showed that the seismic velocity (P wave) is between 0.1 and 0.3 kilometers per second in the upper few hundred meters of the crust at all three landing sites. These velocities are much lower than observed for intact rock on Earth, but are consistent with a highly fractured or brecciated material produced by the prolonged meteoritic bombardment of the Moon. At the Apollo 17 landing site, the surface basalt layer was determined to have a thickness of 1.4 kilometers, slightly higher than the 1 kilometer thickness determined from the Traverse Gravimeter Experiment.
Object on or Related to Site
| Object Name: Lunar Roving Vehicle | |
| Cospar: None | |
| Norad: None | |
| Location: Present location unknown or undisclosed. | |
| Launch Date: 7 December 1972, 05:33:00 UT | |
| Landing Date: 11 December 1972, 19:54:57 UT | |
| Deployment: | |
| End Date: 14 December 1972 | |
| Function: The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was an electric vehicle designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon and to be capable of traversing the lunar surface, allowing the Apollo astronauts to extend the range of their surface extravehicular activities. | |
| Image Source: Pending |
Description
The Lunar Roving Vehicle had a mass of 210 kg and was designed to hold a payload of an additional 490 kg on the lunar surface. The frame was 3.1 meters long with a wheelbase of 2.3 meters. The maximum height was 1.14 meters. The frame was made of aluminum alloy 2219 tubing welded assemblies and consisted of a 3 part chassis which was hinged in the center so it could be folded up and hung in the Lunar Module quad 1 bay. It had two side-by-side foldable seats made of tubular aluminum with nylon webbing and aluminum floor panels. An armrest was mounted between the seats, and each seat had adjustable footrests and a Velcro seatbelt. A large mesh dish antenna was mounted on a mast on the front center of the rover. The suspension consisted of a double horizontal wishbone with upper and lower torsion bars and a damper unit between the chassis and upper wishbone. Fully loaded the LRV had a ground clearance of 36 cm.
On Apollo 17 the rover went 35.9 km in 4 hours 26 minutes total drive time. The longest traverse was 20.1 km and the greatest range from the LM was 7.6 km.
Read more: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_lrv.html
Lets not forget …Gene Cernan: [The B. Manischewitz Company has long been a major American producer of kosher foods and, at least during the 1950’s and into the 60’s, heavily advertised its wines with the phrase “Man, oh, Manischewitz. What a wine.” during Apollo 17, Gene often used “Manischewitz” as an exclamation or as a substitute for swearing.]