Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Last Man on the Moon (Encore)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. Everyone knows that Neil Armstrong was the first person to step foot on the moon. But who is the last person on the moon? And why haven't we ever sent anyone back to the moon? Learn more about the last person to set foot on the moon and the past, present, and future of lunar exploration, or the lack thereof, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

Starting point is 00:00:51 It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Most things in life tend to reach their zenith near their conclusion. The Apollo program reached its zenith right at the beginning. The moment Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar lander in most people's minds, the Apollo program was complete. John Kennedy set a goal of sending someone to the moon, and Apollo 11 completed it.

Starting point is 00:01:24 However, the plan was for so much more. In the initial planning stages of the Apollo program, NASA ordered 15 Saturn 5 rockets, which would take them through Apollo 20. Two of the Saturn 5s were used in unmanned test flights for Apollo 4 and Apollo 6. Three of them were used on man test flights, Apollo 8 and 10, which flew into orbit around the moon, and Apollo 9, which took the first lunar module in the air. Earth orbit. That left 10 Saturn 5 rockets for 10 flights to the moon. Apollo 11 flew in January

Starting point is 00:01:55 1969 and Apollo 12 in November of 1969. The plan was to launch missions about four months apart through 1972, which would take them through Apollo 20. However, on January 4th, 1970, NASA announced the cancellation of Apollo 20, so their Saturn 5 could be used to launch Skylab, NASA's first space station. In April 1970, Apollo 13 launched and famously didn't land on the moon. I'll refer everyone to Tom Hanks' film with the same name to give you an overview of what happened on that mission. After the Apollo 13 debacle, people simply lost interest in the moon, and Congress didn't see the point of any more Apollo missions. They had won the space race, and there wasn't any interest in science or further exploration. In September 1970, NASA announced that two more missions were

Starting point is 00:02:40 going to be cut. Apollo 18 and 19 were canceled, and the rest of the missions had to be rescheduled and renumbered. Apollo 14 was already set and that really couldn't be messed with. It launched on January 1971. The remaining three missions were fast-tracked. These were going to be what were called J missions, which were scheduled to start with Apollo 16. They would have lunar rovers and allowed for longer stays in the moon. These missions, although most people have forgotten about them, were really the highlight of the Apollo program. If you've ever seen large, detailed images from the Apollo program or higher quality video, it probably came from one of the J missions. Apollo 15 launched in July 1971, and it was the first time the lunar rover was used on

Starting point is 00:03:23 the moon. Apollo 16 flew in April 1972 and spent three days on the surface with 20 hours out walking around in EVAs or extra-vehicular activity. The final Apollo mission was launched on December 7, 1972. The crew consisted of commander Eugene Sernan, lunar module pilot, Harrison Schmidt and command module pilot Ronald Evans. Schmidt was different than all the other astronauts. He wasn't a test pilot, and he wasn't even in the military. He was a civilian with a PhD in geology who attended Caltech and Harvard. When Apollo 18 was canceled, the scientific community lobbied to get him move to the last Apollo flight, and he was put on the mission so at least one scientist would make it to the moon. The commander, Gene Sernan, had more of a traditional background

Starting point is 00:04:08 for an astronaut. He was a Navy pilot who flew in Gemini 9, and he had previously been to the moon on Apollo 10, but he didn't land or walk on the surface. He is one of only three people to have traveled to the moon more than once. The Apollo 17 mission was the longest Apollo mission yet. They landed on the moon on December 11th and had three extended EVAs. Sernan and Harris spent 23 hours on the surface between the three EVAs, which was a record for any Apollo mission. They traveled over 35 kilometers on their lunar rover, which was also an Apollo record, and they collected 110.4 kilograms of moon rock that they brought back, also a record. At the end of their final EVA, Harrison climbed back into the lunar module, and Cernan followed behind. Before he climbed up the ladder,

Starting point is 00:04:53 however, he said the following, quote, I'm on the surface, and as I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future, I'd just like to say, that I believe history will record that America's challenge today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And as we leave the moon at Taurus Litro, we leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed, the crew of Apollo 17. End quote. With that, on October 15, 1972, Gene Cernan became the last person to walk on the moon. The words I quoted above were actually the last words spoken while standing on the moon. Technically, the last words spoken before they blasted off back to Earth were,

Starting point is 00:05:41 let's get this mother out of here, also spoken by Cernan. On the way back to Earth, they had a call with the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Nixon told the astronauts, this may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the moon. This infuriated the astronauts and others back at NASA, but his words were prophetic. Since Apollo 17, 48 years ago, no one has gone to back to the moon. Of the 12 men from the six missions which landed on the moon, only four of them

Starting point is 00:06:10 survive. They now range in age from 85 to 90. Gene Sernan passed away in 2017 at the age of 82. Harrison Schmidt was elected to the United States Senate from New Mexico, and he still lives there today. The big question is if other people will walk on the moon before we lose the last of the moonwalkers. China announced a desire to land someone on the moon, but today they haven't really taken any firm steps to make that happen. NASA announced Project Artemis, which is supposed to land astronauts back on the moon in the year 2024. They hope to start launching tests in 2021, and they've already begun work in the development of lunar landers. The plan is to land a man and the first woman on the moon somewhere near the lunar South Pole. The big problem, however, is money. Congress

Starting point is 00:06:57 just isn't enthused about sending people to the moon. It's the same problem that plagued NASA back in the 1970s. Without funding, many space observers doubt that the 2024 deadline will be achievable. One solution being offered is to use private companies like SpaceX to get to orbit at a lower price and save money. Until Project Artemis gets more traction and probably more funding, we'll still be asking ourselves, if we can send someone to the moon, why can't we send someone to the moon? The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I just want to thank everyone, including the show's producers, who support the show over on Patreon. If you'd like to support the show, just head over to patreon.com,

Starting point is 00:07:43 which is currently the only place where you can get show merchandise. Also, if you want to talk to other listeners about the show, head over to our Facebook group or Discord server, both of which have links in the show notes.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Last Man on the Moon (Encore)

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