Tag Archives: Apollo 17

Gene Cernan and I Walk Into a Bar; or, Swearing Around the Moon

Posted on March 3, 2013 by asteitel

In all his official NASA portraits, Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan looks stern. All the Apollo-era astronauts were photographed unsmiling, almost as though it would give tax paying Americans the sense that their national heroes took their roles deadly seriously … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo, Gemini, Moon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Jack Schmitt’s Christmas Poem

Posted on December 23, 2012 by asteitel

NASA didn’t give its Apollo astronauts too much free time during missions. Crews had to go through multi-stage checklists before any manoeuvre and had experiments to run during the three day transits to and from the Moon. Everything, down to … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo, History of Space Science, Manned Spaceflight, Moon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Last Words on the Moon

Posted on December 16, 2012 by asteitel

We’ve just passed the 40th anniversary of Apollo 17 leaving the Moon. On December 14, 1972, commander Gene Cernan and lunar module pilot Jack Schmitt in the LM Challenger blasted off from Taurus-Littrow, ending the last manned lunar sojourn. It was … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo, History of Space Science, Manned Spaceflight | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments