Manned Space Flight, USA, Apollo 17 Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt collecting samples, 1972

Manned Space Flight, USA, Apollo 17 Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt collecting samples, 1972. Schmitt is seen collecting Moon samples by a large lunar boulder, with part of the Lunar Rover in the foreground. Apollo 17, the sixth and last manned mission to the Moon, with astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Schmitt on board, was launched on 7th December 1972. Schmitt, the twelth man to walk on the Moon, was also the first geologist to set foot on its surface. The battery powered Lunar Rover, first used on the Apollo 15 mission, significantly increased the amount of ground the astronauts could cover in the course of their exploration of the lunar surface. ©SSPL/NASA