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Harrison Schmitt

Harrison Schmitt on the Moon

Harrison Schmitt

Harrison "Jack" Schmitt flew to the Moon in 1972 aboard Apollo 17, the final manned lunar landing.

Schmitt, an experienced geologist, is the only scientist to have walked on the Moon. He and Eugene Cernan explored the surface with a lunar rover, collecting rock samples, taking photographs and setting up science experiments.

Schmitt was also involved in the scientific aspects of the other Apollo landings and instructed crew members in lunar geology and feature recognition.

Photo: Harrison Schmitt takes lunar samples (NASA/Eugene Cernan)

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Harrison Schmitt on the Moon

About Harrison Schmitt

The only scientist to walk on the Moon flew on Apollo 17.

About Harrison Schmitt

Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is an American geologist, a retired NASA astronaut, university professor, and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico.

He was the twelfth and last man to walk on the Moon, as Apollo 17 crewmate Eugene Cernan exited the Apollo Lunar Module first. However, as Schmitt re-entered the module first, Cernan became the last astronaut to walk on and depart the moon. Schmitt is also the only geologist as well as the only person to have walked on the Moon who was never a member of the United States Armed Forces, although he is not the first civilian, since Neil Armstrong left military service prior to his landing in 1969.

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