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This month is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 17 mission.
Originally, twenty Apollo missions were planned but, following US Congress budget cuts,
Apollo 17 became the last Apollo mission to the Moon.
Crewed by Gene Cernan, Ron Evans, and Lunar Module pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt,
Apollo 17 launched from Cape Kennedy on December 7th
and splashed down on December 19th (UT).
Key goals for the mission included attempts to sample lunar material older than that collected at Mare Imbrium
by Apollo 15, and to investigate whether there had been any relatively recent volcanic activity.
The mission was the longest crewed lunar landing mission and returned 115 kg of lunar material.
As described by Hamish Lindsay
in his essay on the honeysucklecreek.net website,
the mission was supported within Australia
by tracking stations at Honeysuckle Creek, Carnarvon, and by the
new 210-foot (64-m) DSS-43 antenna, Ballima, at Tidbinbilla
(
which was not officially opened until the following year).
Schmitt visited the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station the following year,
leaving the signed image above in appreciation for the efforts of station personnel.
The message reads "To Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station. This was our view of AOS. Many thanks!"
(AOS stands for Acquisition Of Signal).
(Image credit: honeysucklecreek.net)
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