Launch of Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the last crewed mission to the Moon in the American Apollo programme, and the only one launched at night. Its crew was Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, a professional geologist and the only scientist to walk on the Moon, and Ronald Evans, who stayed in lunar orbit. Cernan and Schmitt landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley and explored it over three days using the lunar rover, collecting the largest amount of lunar samples of any mission. They discovered orange volcanic glass in the soil. During the journey the crew took the Blue Marble photograph of the whole Earth. Cernan was the last person to walk on the lunar surface, and no one has returned since.

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