Last Man Apollo 17 at 50
In the 60s and 70s NASA at least talked the talk of inclusion, while it certainly walked the spacewalk with an astronaut corps made up of white men, under five foot 11 inches tall (in order to fit into the space craft), mostly military trained test pilots. While this cohort was equipped with many skillsets (along with public funding, training and education) there was a total of one official “scientist-astronaut” among them. A geologist, Jack Schmitt, added to the crew of the final moon mission, Apollo 17 which landed on the lunar surface 50 years ago this week.
As for the talk, even with the flag planted and national pride on the line, the messaging again and again comes back to claim the lunar missions as achievements made for the progress “of all Mankind.” The Americans, in this case, standing on the shoulders of one people, from one earth. The final words of the last man on the moon echo the sentiment. 1972_12_13
Day 3: 1972_12_13, 169:43:06
Gene Cernan:
Houston, before we close out our EVA // Jack has picked up a very significant rock, typical of what we have here in the valley of Taurus-Littrow.
169:44:45
It's a rock composed of many fragments, of many sizes, and many shapes // and even colors that have grown together to become a cohesive rock // living together in a very peaceful manner. // We'd like to share a piece of this rock with so many of the countries throughout the world. We hope that this will be a symbol of what our feelings are, what the feelings of the Apollo Program are, and a symbol of Mankind: that we can live in peace and harmony in the future.