The Explorers' Club, № CMXXI

Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 17, Part I
7 December 1972: Apollo 17 lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center shortly after midnight, with CDR Gene Cernan, C.M.P. Ron Evans, & L.M.P. Jack Schmitt aboard the Command & Service Module America atop a Saturn V rocket also carrying the Lunar Module Challenger; this was Apollo's only night launch, the only launch delay caused by hardware, & the final manned flight of a Saturn V.

Commentary: Apollo 17 lifted off two hours forty minutes later than planned, from 9:53 P.M. on 6 December to 12:33 A.M. on 7 December. That delay was made up due to a faster trajectory from Earth orbit into lunar orbit, allowing the mission to proceed according to its original timeline.

The above photograph of the Earth is known as The Blue Marble, one of the most reproduced photos in history, & a poetic bookend to Apollo 8's equally celebrated photograph from four years earlier, Earthrise.

Bonus! Moonshot Songs o' the Day: Apollo 17
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, "The Golden Age" from Fruit (Space Cadet Mike Papa DSKY)

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National Aeronautics & Space Administration, "Apollo 17 Excerpt 2" from The Apollo Missions (Space Cadet Mike Papa DSKY)

Semper exploro.