Our Last Manned Moon Mission Launched 40 Years Ago Today

Growing up in the '60s, I was always fascinated by the space race and the NASA missions to the moon. On this day in 1972, the U.S.A's last manned launch to the moon took place with Apollo XVII, and we haven't set foot there since.

According to Wikipedia:

"Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final mission of the United States' Apollo program, the sixth mission to land humans on the Moon. Launched at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 7 December 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt,

Apollo 17 was the sixth Apollo lunar landing, the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and the final crewed launch of a Saturn V rocket."

Here's dramatic footage of Apollo XVII astronauts walking on the surface of the moon.