In December 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last humans to set foot on the Moon. Having proven the USA's dominance in space, the Apollo program, which took up a substantial part of the country's national budget, was closed. No person has been to the Moon since.
Apollo 17 became the last crewed mission to the Moon, for an indefinite amount of time. The main reason for this was money. The cost of getting to the Moon was, ironically, astronomical.
How many times have we landed on the moon since 1969?
There were six crewed landings between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings. All crewed missions to the Moon were conducted by the Apollo program, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. After Luna 24 in 1976 there were no soft landings on the Moon until Chang'e 3 in 2013.
When was the last time someone walked on the moon?
The last footprint left on the moon was on December 14, 1972. After 50 years, NASA is planning to get ready to go back. As part of the Apollo 11 mission, it has been 50 years since people set foot on the moon for the first time on July 20, 1969.
The U.S. remains the only country to have put humans on the lunar surface, most recently in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission. But the U.S. government hasn't even tried for a soft landing — with or without astronauts on board — since then.
We cannot see the flags on the Moon with Earthbound telescopes, but we know they are still standing tall thanks to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The flag support bar latch failed on the Apollo 12 flag pole and remains forever collapsed on Oceanus Procellarum. Photo courtesy of NASA.
Any country or agency that does choose to land people on the Moon will need to accept a certain amount of risk and budgetary commitment. Human Moon landings require more resources than robotic landings, since humans require water, oxygen, food, and other amenities to remain alive.
How many flags are on the Moon? A total of six flags have been planted on the Moon – one for each US Apollo landing. Unfortunately, Apollo 11's flag was too close to the landing module and was knocked over by the exhaust when the module launched again.
NASA did not abruptly stop deep-sea research following the failure of a satellite in 1978. The agency continues to study the deep ocean and launched missions as recently as 2021.
The lunar lander, nicknamed Moon Sniper for its extremely accurate landing precision, of about 100 metres (330 ft) landing ellipse, touched down onto the Moon on 19 January 2024 at 15:20 UTC, at the Sea of Nectar, to the south of the Theophilus crater.
NASA's Artemis 2 lunar mission in 2024 will send the first astronauts around the moon in nearly 50 years. The mission will launch four astronauts around the moon on a lunar flyby aboard an Orion spacecraft using a Space Launch System rocket.
The two NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station now have their ride home. On Sept. 29, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked with the ISS, and it's all set to bring them back to Earth in early 2025.
NASA had turned its attention away from the moon after the last Apollo mission in 1972 to focus on the space shuttle, the International Space Station and other goals. Various administrations proposed returning to the moon, but those programs didn't survive political headwinds.
🔭 🌕 Have you ever wondered if you can spot the American flag left on the Moon with your telescope? Robert Reeves tackles this famous question! Spoiler Alert: The Answer is No.
Apollo 11 carried the flags of 135 nations (Canada included), the United Nations, Vatican City, and the U.S. states and provinces, that were later mounted on a plaque with acrylic-encased moon dust collected from Tranquility Base.
Yes there are, even though nobody has stepped on the lunar surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. The footsteps will be there for many years to come too. The Moon is geologically dead so the marks won't be wiped out by earthquakes or volcanoes.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were responsible for many of the mementos placed on the surface of the moon to remember those who had been lost in space travel as well as unplanned debris left behind after they were instructed by mission control to lighten the load of their spacecraft in order to make it back home to ...
Nasa had turned its attention away from the moon after the last Apollo mission in 1972 to focus on the space shuttle, the International Space Station and other goals. Various administrations proposed returning to the moon, but those programs didn't survive political headwinds.
NASA, lawmakers and the public are not willing to take on that level of risk again, especially after the Challenger and Columbia disasters. The Apollo missions expended enormous sums of money to send astronauts to the lunar surface for a few dozen hours.
Under the former Soviet Union, Russia managed to safely land seven spacecraft on the lunar surface, including the first-ever soft landing in 1966. Borisov acknowledged that the Soviet successes of last century weren't easily repeatable.
China's Chang'e-6 probe has left a memorable mark on the far side of the moon. The Chinese national flag, unfurled on the probe's lander on Tuesday, will remain intact for a long, long time because it's made from a type of stone, or more precisely, fiber from basalt.
