Since the final human footprint was left on the Moon by Harrison ‘Jack’ Schmitt, an Apollo 17 astronaut, years have passed, and the space exploration has not continued for a while.
Our direct contact with the Moon took place in 1969 when Apollo 11 crew was the first to walk on the Moon. In 1903 was the first flight of Wright Brothers, and 66 years later the first human-crewed lunar landing took place. With all the technology we have now, it is funny how we need another 50 years to think about returning to the Moon.
In December 1972, three years after Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon on July 1969, Schmitt, now aged 83, traveled to the Earth’s satellite. He remains the last living man to have walked on the Moon as Eugene Cernan died in 2017.
The Moon Could Be Our Savior, Think Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 Astronaut
The Apollo program was already a vision for NASA until his mission took place. After Apollo 13, even though Apollo 18, 19 and 20 had been scrapped as public interest, the anxiety of the American forces grew, so those plans were put on stand-by. Two Saturn 5 rockets remained unused at that time and astronauts hoped a resurrection would happen.
Schmitt told The Telegraph that when President Nixon had a statement read out saying no other astronauts will reach the Moon until the next century starts and that is the first time he felt in his heart the truth. He was disappointed to realize that missions like that would not take place any time soon. Regular Moon missions received support from Schmitt as he thinks crucial resources that would save humanity could be found on our natural satellite
If astronauts return to the satellite, they could receive proper training helping them for future deep space expeditions. Schmitt was the last astronaut to reach the outer space, and he thinks we will not be able to repeat this in the future if NASA does not take the lead.
