It has been over 50 years since the Apollo 17, the last time humanity walked on the Moon. During those three days, the crew has done more scientific experiments on the Lunar surface and in the orbit than any other Apollo flight.
Eugene Cernar, Harrison Schmitt and Ron Evans marked the end of an era for humanity's exploration of space. The golden age.
This documentary tells the story of the last time man walked on the Moon. What stands out in this documentary, in a sharp contrast to every other piece of media I've consumed about the program, is the amount of childish fun the astronauts had doing it. No one had more fun during their mission than Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt and Ron Evans.
That's the part about this documentary that I love the most.
More than once have I found myself smiling like a kid watching fifty years old footage of Cernan and Schmitt "fooling around" on the surface of the Moon. From witty comments, fumbling with equipment, rolling rocks, breaking things and generally enjoying themselves, their mission had it all.
While Cernan and Schmitt were doing their thing on the surface, Ronald Evans was in Lunar orbit doing the same. The lone man mapped the Lunar surface like never before, his comprehensive work being used by scientific community to this day. He too found a way to entertain himself, all in the name of science, of course.
Apollo 17 perfectly captures the spirit of exploration, what man can accomplish when he's not burdened by foolish things.
That's the poignant part of this documentary, one that both made me feel proud and sad. Apollo 17 was the peak of manned space exploration, the golden age. That courage, that spite, that daring to do things at the very edge of the envelope... we've lost that.
Other projects took funding from Apollo and it's last three planned missions were cancelled. The shuttle flew to great effect but it never escaped low earth gravity, SkyLab was built and scientific work continued in the relative safety of low Earth orbit, we landed rovers on Mars, an astonishing accomplishment, caught up and landed on asteroids. We've done many great things... but it's just not the same.
Give this ago, it'll give you some insight about the last mission and hopefully get you excited about the upcoming Artemis program.
