OTD In Space - December 7: NASA Launches Apollo 17

On Dec. 7, 1972, NASA launched the last crew to land on the moon with the Apollo 17 mission.

Three NASA astronauts flew to the moon that day: Gene Cernan was the commander, Ronald Evans was the command module pilot, and Harrison Schmitt piloted the lander. Like most of the other Apollo missions, they lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's historic launchpad 39A on a gigantic Saturn V rocket. This was the last time a Saturn V rocket would launch astronauts into space, and it was the only nighttime launch of the Apollo program. The crew spent three days at the moon before heading home, and no one has been to the moon ever since.