THE HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT BLOG: From the Space Shuttle to Beyond

Apollo 17: 40 Years Ago Today... At 12:33 AM, Eastern Standard Time on December 7, 1972, a giant Saturn V rocket carrying Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 4-day voyage to the Moon. While this was the first nighttime launch of the Saturn V vehicle since its first manned flight (on Apollo 8) on December 21, 1968, this is the last time over the next four decades that humans would be sent to Earth's nearest celestial neighbor.


NASA