Apollo 17′s splashdown ended era 50 years ago as Artemis eyes return to moon

The last three men to travel to the moon made it safe back to Earth 50 years ago today as the Apollo 17 crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 19, 1972.

Just five days earlier, Commander Eugene “Gene” Cernan had taken what turned out to be the unwanted title of “Last Man on the Moon” when he became the last person to leave his footprints on the lunar surface as he climbed back on board the lunar lander Challenger with crewmate Harrison “Jack” Schmitt. The the duo then flew back up away from the lunar valley Taurus-Littrow to join pilot Ronald Evans who was orbiting the moon in the command module America.

“America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow,” Cernan said upon leaving. “As we leave the moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”

The trio then trekked back home to arrive on a Tuesday morning (by 2:54 p.m. EST) about 400 miles from the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific where they were recovered and flown by helicopter to the nearby USS Ticonderoga.

Their return marked the end of a mission that blasted off from Kennedy Space Center 12 1/2 days earlier during which the crew took an image of the Earth known as the “Blue Marble” showing our fully illuminated planet. The mission set several records that still stand including more than three days on the surface with more than 22 hours of extravehicular activities that resulted in nearly 250 pounds of return samples.

The splashdown also marked the conclusion of the Apollo program, the last of eight trips made by American astronauts, six of which sent a total of 12 men to the lunar surface.

Five decades later, NASA was able to complete its first mission of the Artemis program in its effort to take the title of “Last Man on the Moon” away from Cernan.

The Orion capsule for Artemis I returned to Earth after its record-setting lunar orbital trip, also splashing down in the Pacific Ocean 50 years to the day of Apollo 17′s launch from KSC on Dec. 11.

NASA Associated Administrator Bob Cabana became emotional during coverage of the Orion landing thinking of Cernan, who died in 2017.

“If you’re watching this morning, I love the video. ... but the Earth just kept getting bigger and bigger. It was really hauling as it came in and the preciseness with which they were able to bring it down and to see the chutes come out,” Cabana said. “My only — I wish Gene Cernan were still alive. You know, here we are on the 50th anniversary and Gene was such a proponent of getting us back to the moon. I wish he were alive to have seen this mission. It would have meant a lot to him.”

In the years before his death, Cernan was a big proponent of reminding people that he didn’t want to be called the “last man on the moon,” but the “most recent man on the moon” as he was looking forward to seeing what became the Artemis program, which now has a goal of returning humans, including the first woman, to the lunar surface.

That mission — Artemis III — won’t come until at least 2025. Artemis II, though, aims to fly humans back to the moon on an orbital trip without landing as early as 2024.

Only four of the 12 men who walked on the moon are still alive including Schmitt, Apollo 11′s Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 15′s David Scott and Apollo 16′s Charlie Duke.

Duke, who was part of the backup crew for Apollo 17 after having returned to Earth just over seven months earlier, spoke remotely Friday during a panel discussion held at Johnson Space Center in Houston marking the 50th anniversary of the last Apollo mission speaking with NASA officials who worked on both Apollo 50 years ago and Artemis today.

“Of course, we were all close friends, the astronauts during Apollo,” he said noting that although there we no more moon assignments, “we volunteered anyways, because who knows what might happen and we might be a good support for the crew. ... Being on the backup crew with that experience we had with our three days on the moon was really helpful to them and our training and we were able to give them some ideas about their traverses and what they should look for.”

Also at the discussion was Gene Kranz, the chief flight director during the Apollo missions, and Duke shared an anecdote during Apollo 17 training at what was then Cape Kennedy during which he and Apollo 14′s Stuart Roosa pulled a prank by sticking a dead snake under Kranz’s chair and had his secretary call him.

“He looks at this big snake — which had been dispatched and beheaded by the way — and he went Mach 2 backwards, and jumped out and had a few choice curse words — white as a sheet,” Duke said. “Gene took it really well in the end.”

Kranz spoke about how the success of Apollo was due to the good leadership and the communication lines that were open integrating so many parts to get the job done. His advice for young people follows the same mantra the Apollo teams followed 50 years ago he said.

“You’re gonna run into bottlenecks. You’re gonna run into times when you are just tempted to just quit right on down the line. And I think the key thing is to continue growing, always set your goal high. And then once you reach that goal, move it a bit higher,” he said. “I think is the thing that was really key to our success in Mission Control. We never stopped accepting the challenge to continue growing and being better.”

Kranz, who noted he had worked on every mission from Mercury through the shuttle launches to the International Space Station, said he had always been concerned with the uncrewed missions like Artemis I since no one was on board to troubleshoot when things go wrong. So he was in awe of how the Artemis I mission performed.

“I just wanted to say you did — I’ll say one hell of a job — one hell of a job pulling that thing off because it was incredible,” he said.

Gerry Griffin, who was lead flight director for Apollo 17, said he thinks the Apollo program did one essential thing that will lead to further success for Artemis.

“When we started Apollo, it had never been done. And we thought we could do it. We were a bunch of young people that had great leadership. And we pulled it off,” he said. “Now that takes that element out for Artemis — it can be done. We did it 50 years ago. Artemis will have much better tools to do it — technology tools. And I think it’ll be very successful. But I think the thing that you can take off your plate and not worry about is that it can be done. Because we did that. And boy, Godspeed. Have Fun.”

Current NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman spoke about how those who worked on these programs five decades ago not only inspired, but were hands on helping steer decisions today.

“The one thing I was taking away from all three of them — from Gene, Gerry and Charlie — is we’re still learning, and these three folks are still teaching us,” he said. “What you all did in Apollo was truly magnificent, and you motivated an entire world to get into science, technology, engineering and math and we thank you all for that.”

When he was first selected as an astronaut in 2009, he said they day he and his fellow candidates showed up, “these folks were involved in our training. They were our mentors. They were teaching us everything that we needed to think about. And they’ve been there by our sides every day since. We just had a great talk with Jack Schmitt this past weekend at a reunion. And that’s the biggest thing to me is that they really embody the lifelong commitment to human exploration and they have never let their guard down.”

Griffin, though, warned that the path to success won’t be easy.

“The one thing, the hill to climb yet for Artemis, is the fact that the moon is still 240,000 give or take miles away, and it’s tough. It’s a hard business and somewhere along the way you’re probably going to get your nose bloodied — hopefully not too bad — learn from it and move on,” he said. He then credited the chief spacecraft designer for the era, Max Faget, who said in the control room during a launch, “‘You know we made this look too easy. The next bunch is needs to be aware of that.’ It’s not easy. It’s very, very hard, but that’s why we did. That’s why [President] Kennedy said that we’re going to do it, because it’s hard. Just keep that in mind, it can bite you.”

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