In No Order, Apollo 17 In Photos. I Try To Give It A Break Each Year But I Love This Mission.

In no order, Apollo 17 in photos. I try to give it a break each year but i love this mission.

Gene Cernan just a few minutes after his first steps. IVe never heard two guys so excited to look out a window and see a giant rock.  “Look at that rock out there!!”  -Gene Cernan 

The first day, untouched regolith and a long shadow, in three days the sun will slowly angle higher and higher.

Day 3, occasionally a moment of silence would come between the busy radio chatter and geology work for a few photos and a nice take-in of the view.  

Tracy’s Rock, Day 3

Out in the distance, the command module America as seen from the Lunar Module Challenger and the landing site below in the Taurus Littrow valley,The three 10,000ft+ peaks quite visible from a good telescope on earth

Gene Cernan on Day 2 getting the rover ready for an 8 hour work day in damp jet cool underwear and rays of sun.

Cernan dusting off rover camera. “Can I change your oil?” -Cernan

Gene using a 500mm telephoto lens.

Setting up experiments. Getting the rover checked out. Home is where you make it. Day 1

Setting up experiments. Home is where you make it. Day 1“Astronaut scissors” are actually just medical tools refurbished for spaceflight. If you’re a real nerd you can find pairs like these on Ebay. Now days they just use EMT sheers but the old heavy polished chrome scissors still appear in the ISS once a while.

A picture of a human occupied moon (Two whole people and one guy in orbit) framed with Icy Illinois trees December 1972.

Looking back at the landing site, this was one of the last up close views the crew had of the landing site before leaving Lunar orbit back to Earth.

BLASTED with sun, taking the very brunt of extreme temperatures and vacuum of space and temperatures,getting weathered by dust and rocks; Gene Cernan was all safe inside this helmet peering out into the Lunar world.

romping on the moon (What looks like Gene singing is actually handing a bag to Jack Schmitt) 

A chilly December back on Earth,Looking out the LM window at a warm “spring day”  and the hum of an air conditioner on the moon. 

One of the last views out the window a few hours before liftoff. Contrary to movies, they didn't just hop in and leave, they would sleep for hours and prepare the next day (whenever they awoke from sleep) for return to the command module. Until then, they would look as much as possible, wishing they could go for just one more walk; knowing they would NEVER see this view again.

So many missions, so little time to remember them.  Apollo 17...