Celebrating Apollo 17 at 50: NASA’s Last Mission of the Apollo Program

To mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 17, NASA produced a film honoring its crew — Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt and Ronald Evans — and the last mission of the Apollo program.

What the film shows

The film is built from the mission's own audio, following Apollo 17 from launch to the Moon:

• Launch — the final countdown, "ignition sequence started," and liftoff, followed by the confirmation that the spacecraft was go for orbit.
• Arrival — the command module America reporting to Houston that it had arrived on station for the challenge ahead.
• Landing — the report that the lunar module Challenger had landed, and the crew dedicating the first step of Apollo 17 to everyone who made it possible.
• The plaque — words marking where people completed their first exploration of the Moon in December 1972, with the wish that the spirit of peace in which they came be reflected in the lives of all mankind.
• Looking ahead — reflections that Apollo was only a beginning of humanity's venture into deep space, that a beginning implies a continuation, and faith that a trip to Mars would one day happen, whether in a decade or by the end of the century.
• Farewell — a closing "Godspeed" to the crew of Apollo 17.

Apollo 17

Sources

Based on NASA's film "Official Celebration of Apollo 17 50th Anniversary," NASA Image and Video Library; a work of the United States government in the public domain.