Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. (NASA AS17-134-20513)
14 December 1972: At 4:54:36 p.m., CST (Houston time), the Ascent Stage of the Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger lifted off from the landing site in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, The Moon. On board were Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan and the LM Pilot, Harrison H. Schmitt.
The two Astronauts had been on the surface of the Moon for 3 days, 2 hours, 59 minutes, 40 seconds. During that time they made three excursions outside the lunar lander, totaling 22 hours, 3 minutes 57 seconds.
Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the Moon in the Twentieth Century. Gene Cernan was the last man to stand on the surface of the Moon.
The Apollo 17 ascent stage lifts off from the Taurus-Littrow Valley at 2254 UTC, 14 December 1972. The takeoff was captured by a television camera which had been left on the surface of the Moon. (NASA)
Apollo 12 lunar lander Intrepid above the Moon before beginning its descent to the surface, 19 November 1969. (Richard F. Gordon, Jr./NASA)
19 November 1969: The Apollo 12 lunar lander, LM-6, named Intrepid by the flight crew, landed at Oceanus Procellarum, The Moon, at 06:54:35 UTC. The lunar module touched down within approximately 600 feet (183 meters) of the intended landing site, the lunar probe Surveyor 3, which had landed there 20 April 1967. The landing site is named Statio Cognitum.
Surveyor 3 landed at Oceanus Procellarum 20 April 1967. (Alan L. Bean/NASA)NASA Astronaut Charles (“Pete”) Conrad, Jr., descends the lunar lander’s ladder to the surface of the Moon, 11:35 UTC, 19 November 1969. (Alan L. Bean/NASA)
Mission Commander, Charles (“Pete”) Conrad, Jr., began the first lunar EVA at 11:32:35 UTC and set foot on the surface at 11:44:22 UTC. Approximately one-half hour later, at 12:13;50 UTC, Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean, Jr., also stepped out onto The Moon.
NASA Astronaut Alan L. Bean descends the ladder of Intrepid to the Moon’s surface, 12:13 UTC, 19 November 1969. (Charles Conrad, Jr./NASA)
The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module Eagle (LM-5) approaches the Command/Service Module Columbia in Lunar Orbit, approximately 2130 UTC, 21 July 1969. (Michael Collins, NASA)
21 July 1969: After spending a total of 21 hours, 36 minutes, 21 seconds on the surface of The Moon, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin fired the rocket engine of the Lunar Module’s Ascent Stage. The liftoff was at 17:54 UTC.
Three hours and forty minutes later, the Eagle ascent stage docked with Columbia, the Command/Service Module, in lunar orbit.
The Apollo 11 Command and Service Module, Columbia (CSM-107), in Lunar Orbit, as seen from the Lunar Module, Eagle. (NASA)
Neil Armstrong steps onto the Moon, 10:56:15 p.m. EDT, 20 July 1969. (NASA)
10:56:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Sunday, 20 July 1969 (02:56:15, 21 July 1969 UTC): 109 hours, 24 minutes, 15 seconds after the Apollo 11/Saturn V was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, NASA Astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong set foot on the surface of the Moon.
“That’s one small step for a man. . . one giant leap for mankind.”
This was the most significant event in the history of mankind.
Neil Alden Armstrong inside the Lunar Module Eagle on the surface of the Moon, 21 July 1969. (Edwin E. Aldrin/NASA)
The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard,shortly after separation from the Command and Service Module, in orbit around the Moon, 20 July 1969. (Michael Collins, NASA)
20 July 1969, 18:12:01 UTC, T + 100 hours, 40 minutes, 1.9 seconds: The Lunar Module Eagle completes the separation maneuver, moving away from the Apollo 11 Command and Service Module Columbia.