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Harrison H. Schmitt

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[Photo: Harrison H. Schmitt]
Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt, USGS Geologist and NASA Astronaut
NASA #S71-52260
(252 x 370, 32 kilobytes)

Jack Schmitt joined the Astrogeology team as a geologist at the Flagstaff Science Center in 1964, having recently earned a doctorate degree from Harvard University. In addition to assisting in the geologic mapping of the Moon, he led the Lunar Field Geological Methods project. When NASA announced a special recruitment for scientist-astronauts in late 1964, Schmitt applied. Out of more than 1,000 applicants, six were chosen. Of those six, Joe Kerwin, Owen Garriott, and Edward Gibson would fly in the Skylab missions in 1973 and 1974, and Schmitt would go to the Moon on the Apollo 17 mission.

Just one year after joining the USGS, Schmitt was transferred to NASA and began his pilot training at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. On December 7, 1972, Apollo 17 was launched, carrying Schmitt, Ronald Evans, and mission commander Eugene Cernan. On December 11, the lunar module, Challenger, landed at Taurus-Littrow on the Moon, and four hours later Cernan and Schmitt became the eleventh and twelfth men to walk on the moon. The pair did a total of three EVAs (extravehicular activities) before their departure on December 14, collecting rock and soil samples, taking photographs, setting up equipment, and making observations. During the mission, Schmitt and Cernan discovered orange soil, an surprising find that created a great deal of excitement in the scientific community. Schmitt was the only geologist to go to the Moon.

Apollo 17 was the final manned mission in a four year exploration of the Moon. The crew of Apollo 17 left a plaque that reads:

"Here man completed his first exploration of the Moon, December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind."


[Photo: USGS geologist Jack Schmitt on a moonwalk]
Jack Schmitt on a Moonwalk
Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split boulder during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon.1

NASA photo AS17-140-21496
624 x 500, 201 kilobytes
[Photo: Schmitt with American flag planted on lunar surface]
Jack Schmitt with American Flag Planted on Lunar Surface
Scientist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot, is photographed next to the U.S. flag during extravehicular activity (EVA) of NASA's final lunar landing mission in the Apollo series. The photo was taken at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The highest part of the flag appears to point toward Earth in the distant background.1

NASA photo AS17-134-20384
500 x 500, 62 kilobytes
[Photo: Schmitt working at lunar rover]
Jack Schmitt Working at Lunar Rover
A view of the lunarscape at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) showing Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt working at the lunar roving vehicle (LRV) during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-2) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. Shorty Crater is to the right. The peak in the center background is Family Mountain. Portion of South Massif is on the horizon at the left edge.1

NASA photo AS17-137-21011
614 x 500, 201 kilobytes
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Links & References

NASA: Apollo 17 Home Page
1 NASA: Apollo 17 image archive (images and captions on this page courtesy of NASA)

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