Happy birthday, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt!

Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, born July 3, 1935 in Santa Rita, New Mexico, flew to the moon on Apollo 17, becoming the twelfth person to walk on the moon.  He received his PhD in geology from Harvard University in 1964. 

He was assigned to be the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17, with Eugene Cernan and Ronald Evans.  He  is the second to  last person to have walked on the moon.

He resigned from NASA in 1975 to seek election to the U. S. Senate for New Mexico and won in 1976.

Apollo 17 astronaut Ronald Evans born 1933

Ronald Ellwin Evans, Jr., born November 10, 1933 in St. Francis, Kansas, walked on the moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the last trip to the moon.  Harrison Schmidte and Gene Cernan took the last steps on the lunar surface while Evans orbited above as the Command Module Pilot.

On the trip back to Earth, Evans completed an EVA for one hour and 6 minutes to retrieve some cameras and an inspection of the equipment bay area.  This was his only trip into space.

He passed away in Scottsdale, Arizona of a heart attack April 7, 1990.

Apollo 17, last trip to the Moon, launched 1972

Apollo 17 crew (L-R): Lunar Module Pilot Harrison H. Schmitt; Commander Eugene A. Cernan (seated); Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans

December 7, 1972, Apollo 17 began its trip to the Moon, the last manned mission of the Apollo program.  Eugene Cernan became the last man to walk on the lunar surface, just three years after Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon.

Cernan and Schmitt spent about 3 days on the Moon, longer than any previous crew, and logged over 22 miles on the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), traveling almost 5 miles from the lunar lander.

They splashed down in the south Pacific Ocean, December 19.