Reports/Apollo 17/Mission report/2.0 Introduction

The Apollo 17 mission was the final mission in the Apollo program. The mission accomplished the sixth lunar landing and also completed the series of three orbital-science-oriented missions.

The Lunar Module Pilot was the first Scientist-Astronaut assigned to an American manned spaceflight mission. His academic background includes a Doctorate in Geology, and he has participated in many unique geological activities. He was selected as a Scientist-Astronaut in June, 1965, and this was followed by a year of flight training. His first mission assignment was as the backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 15. la 1972, he was assigned as the prime Lunar Module Pilot for the Apollo 17 mission.

The vehicle configuration was similar to those of Apollo 15 and 16. There were significant differences in the science payload for Apollo 17. Spacecraft hardware differences and experiment equipment are described in Appendix A. The mission achieved a landing in the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon and returned samples of the pre-Imbrium highlands and young craters. An assessment of the mission objectives is presented in section 13.

This report primarily provides information of the operational and engineering aspects of the mission. Preliminary scientific results and launch vehicle performance are reported in references 1 and 2, respectively. A complete analysis of all applicable data is not possible within the time frame of the preparation of this report. Therefore, report supplements will be published as necessary. Appendix E lists the reports and gives their status, either published or in preparation. Standard English units of measurement are used in those sections of the report pertaining to spacecraft systems and trajectories. The International System of Units (SI) is used in sections pertaining to science activities. Unless otherwise specified, time is expressed as elapsed time from range zero (established as the integral second before lift-off), and does not reflect the time update shown in table 3-I. Mileage is given in nautical miles and weight is referenced to earth gravity.

Edits and errors by Eric Hartwell are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license. The original NASA material is copyright-free.