Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the sixth and final sucessful manned flight of Project Apollo, the manned NASA moon missions. Apollo 17 was crewed by Eugene A. Cernan, the Commander; Ronald E. Evans, the Command Module Pilot and Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot. Schmitt a geologist by training was the only trained scientist to walk on the moon, and he and Cernan would spend the longest time on the lunar surface, the largest weight of samples returned from the moon 110 kg or 243 pounds of moon rocks. Apollo 17 launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the first night launch on December 7, 1972, and returned to earth on December 11th. NASA plans to return to the moon with Project Constellation aboard Orion 13, expected to be launched in late 2019, some 47 after Apollo 17.