The Stars My Destination: From the Earth to the Moon

It is all but impossible to consider Apollo 17 purely on its own merits, & not as the final Apollo Moon landing. This was true not just of later commentators equipped with hindsight, but of the Apollo 17 crew themselves, especially mission commander Gene Cernan. Until his death in 2017, Cernan expressed chagrin publicly over his status as the last man on the Moon (also the title of his memoir, & a documentary film based in part on that memoir). Apollo 17 was not the end of Apollo flights; four more Apollo Command & Service Modules would launch from May 1973-July 1975: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, Skylab 4, & the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. But Apollo 17 was the end of an era; as of this writing in December 2022, it has been fifty years since any astronaut has flown beyond low Earth orbit.

The recent success of Artemis I (16 November-11 December) was thrilling, the first time any human-rated spacecraft had flown beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972, but Artemis I's unnamed Orion capsule was unmanned. Artemis II, the first flight intended to fly astronauts beyond low Earth orbit for a crewed flyby of the Moon, is scheduled for no earlier than May 2024. Given the difficulties inherent to spaceflight, it seems likely Artemis II will slip farther into the future. The first manned landing on the Moon, Artemis III, is scheduled for no earlier than 2025, but given the delays in producing the next generation of spacesuits, & the unknown status of the Starship Human Landing System needed to shuttle astronauts to & from the lunar surface, that date seems all but certain to slip farther into the future—optimists say 2026, pessimists say 2028 or later.

Apollo 17 was a triumph. Cernan & Schmitt spent longer on the lunar surface than any other duo, traveled farther using the Lunar Roving Vehicle than any other duo (including total distance traveled & maximum distance from the Lunar Module), & brought back more lunar samples than any other duo; Evans spent more time in lunar orbit than any other astronaut. To paraphrase Schmitt as portrayed in the television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, we stopped exploring the Moon just when we were getting good at it. Let us hope that as we return with the Artemis program, we return to stay, to learn the techniques & develop the technologies to go boldly where no man has gone before, from the Moon to Mars, & beyond.

Meanwhile, here at The Secret Base, we commence tomorrow a retrospective on the "primary" Apollo missions, Apollo 7 (October 1968) through Apollo 17 (December 1972). Look for fiftieth anniversary coverage of the "Apollo Applications" missions, Skylab & Apollo-Soyuz, in the months & years ahead.

Bonus! Moonshot Song o' the Day: Apollo 17
National Aeronautics & Space Administration, "Apollo 17 Excerpt 23" from The Apollo Missions (Space Cadet Mike Papa DSKY)

Commentary:

"…and this circuit, known up until now as Gemini Control, then Apollo Control, will reappear as Skylab Control in the Spring."