STS-135 T-13, Apollo14-17 1972

We made 4 more trips with increasingly successful landings.  In December 1972, four years after Apollo 9 had made the first trip to the moon, we sent the last men to the moon. 

Lunar Rover - Apollo 15, 16, & 17

Starting with Apollo 15, the LEM engines were made more powerful, enabling it to carry the additional weight of the Lunar Rover, which was a go cart type of vehicle permitting the astronauts to travel further from the LEM.  Using the Lunar Rover, the astronauts of Apollo 17 traveled over 20 miles on the surface collecting 110 pounds of rocks and soil.  They stayed on the lunar surface for three days, running a long series of experiments.  Each of the EVAs on the surface lasted over seven hours, contrasted to the two and a half hour EVA of Apollo 11.  We had come a long way.

Last Trip to the Moon, Schmitt, Flag, & Earth

The race to the moon had solidified a country that had a true concern over the threat of the Soviet union.  As the moon program ended, I was in my freshman year at MIT.  MIT had been responsible for the guidance systems for the missions and many of the students ahead of me had worked in the labs.  I remember the dismantling of labs and facilities that had been used for the space program, and in fact still have parts that were salvaged from equipment used in the program.  We were moving on to a new era and new challenges.  I have not seen the prolonged dedication and focus to a national objective since.  The stunning magnitude of this accomplishment is profoundly memorable.

A plaque left on the ladder of the descent stage of the Apollo 17 LEM, Challenger reads:

Here man completed his first explorations of the Moon December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind.

Next time you are looking up at the moon some evening, pause, look at it carefully, and consider what it took to make 9 manned trips to the moon and land 12 people to explore and return. Perhaps in your lifetime, people will travel to the moon again and this plaque will once again be seen and read by a new generation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program