The Apollo 17 mission, which launched in December 1972, was the last of the Apollo missions to the moon. This mission was different from the others in one very important way: its three-man crew—Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt—brought back rocks that would help scientists to determine the moon’s true age.
Much has been speculated as to how old the moon is and what it is made of, but until Apollo 17, no one was able to truly determine its age. By collecting 41.5 kilograms of rock samples from the moon, the astronauts provided scientists with the evidence they needed to make our understanding of the moon’s age much more accurate.
The rocks collected by the Apollo 17 crew ranged in age between 3.2 and 4.5 billion years. This evidence suggests that the moon formed around the same time as the Earth. It also indicates that the moon is made of fragments of material that originated in the same region of space as Earth. These materials were later thrown out into orbit by a collision between a much larger body and the Earth.
The samples collected by the Apollo 17 astronauts provided evidence that the moon’s surface is much older than previously thought. This insight helped to inform our understanding of the moon’s formation and the formation of the solar system.
In addition to providing researchers with data about the moon’s age, Apollo 17 also left a legacy that continues to live on. Commander Cernan was the last human to walk on the moon, and as he took his last steps, he used his famous phrase, “We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
The Apollo 17 mission was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. The rocks it collected helped scientists to answer one of the most fascinating questions of our time and inspired people around the world. The legacy it left will be felt for many years to come.