This week in 1972, the final Moon landing of the Apollo program took place. The launch on December 7th took place from Cape Canaveral with Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt,

Space Exploration shifted to more practical ideas after the end of the Apollo program. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and could orbit the earth and reenter the earth’s atmosphere safely before landing like an airplane on a landing strip. While Moon landings captured the imagination of the world and showed what people were capable of accomplishing, NASA moved on to an era where advances in technology and science directly benefited from space travel.

Still few people in 1972 really believed we would go all this time without a moon landing…that clock is ticking, 43 years and counting.