Remembering the Apollo 17 Moon mission, launched 7 December 1972, splashed down (returned to Earth) 19 December 1972.
It was the last Apollo mission to land men on the Moon.
No humans have returned since then.

Where were you in December 1972? I was eleven years old, and enraptured by the Apollo Moon missions. I was not alone: many school kids proudly owned models of the “Thunderbirds” space ships (from the TV series of the same name), while I was one of the people who owned an Airfix model of the Apollo vehicles, the Saturn V rocket and the lunar module. One of my classmates filked the song, “Blowing in the Wind” to create a new song with a chorus that broke the rhyme and rhythm of the original song, but aspired towards the lofty ambitions of the times:
“The answer, my friend, is in the vacuum of space.
The answer is in the vacuum of space.”
These were the days of stereotypical heterosexist and patriarchal gender norms, when it was asserted of astronauts: “Every boy wanted to be one, and every girl wanted to marry one”. The blokey male aspects of astronautics could even be found in my local Boy Scouts group: every time they held a concert night to sing “Gang Show”-type songs or to share anecdotes and jokes, they always welcomed the slides I brought along (purchased at the Astronomical Society of Victoria or Space Age Books) showing Apollo astronauts walking on the Moon.

Photomontage by Eric Hartwell – AS17-140-21493 archive copy at the Wayback Machine; AS17-140-21497 archive copy at the Wayback Machine, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=630874
I loved those slides: they showed the Moon’s surface in crystal clear clarity that could not normally be found on Earth-bound slides; and even as a child, I intuited that this was because the vacuum of the Moon lacked dust particles that were common in Earth’s atmosphere. They were images that were as silent as the vacuum, and yet they echoed a cosmic chorus that bespoke of the Moon’s magnificent desolation. Apollo 17 slides even featured Tracy’s Rock, which children pondered: how could a big rock roll so far down a distant hill on the Moon? This was an important aspect of the times: we always deferred to experts for the answers.
Oh how I envy those days – not because of the gender stereotypes, nor from some misplaced sense of nostalgia for “the good old days” – but because I can see our culture and our world today lacks that sense of excitement, an optimism in science, a trust in people who spend their lives doing the hard work to become experts in their field, and the aspiration of reaching literally for the Moon.

Reaching for the Stars
The phrase “I aim for the stars” is attributed to German rocket scientist, Werner Von Braun, who later joined NASA and was instrumental in putting men on the Moon. Cynics even back then added an addendum to his phrase as a recognition of his work building V2 rockets for the Nazis during World War 2: “I am for the stars – but occasionally I hit London”.
Such cynicism can be healthy in questioning the whys and wherefores of events, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability when needed. But it can go too far. In recognising the duality and nuances within both individual and collective humans, it can be dangerous to figuratively throw out the baby with the bathwater.

The Apollo Moon landings were the apex of the Space Age – a form of political and technological Cold War between the Soviet Union and the USA. The Moon missions were arguably the largest non-military scientific investment in the history of our species – and we enjoy the spinoffs today. Everything from our automobiles to our electronic devices; everything from climate change mitigation to beaver habitation; virtually every aspect of our modern world owes a debt of gratitude to the space program. Apollo aimed for the Moon – and we found Earth.
And yet, ironically, new generations today use their space age technology – their mobile phones, the Internet, our social media – to spread their uninformed doubts and misinformed conspiracy theories about science and the space program.
Looking at the Gutter, or the Stars?
We live in a culture where everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how ignorant, uninformed or misguided, and people expect equal respect for those ideas alongside the informed proclamations of world scientists. Apollo astronauts who risked their lives reaching for the Moon – and some even died on that quest – have been accused of dishonesty and deceit. Half a million Apollo workers (rocket scientists, astronomers, aeronauts and engineers etc) from the USA to Spain, from Africa to Australia, have all been implicitly accused of dishonesty and involvement within a conspiracy which, if true, would rewrite the history of the Cold War and leave open the obvious question: why the USSR never accused the USA of manufacturing a hoax – such an exposé would have changed the course of history and potentially elevated the Soviet Union to world leader above the USA.
As I write this, the nephew of John F Kennedy – the President who launched the Apollo missions to the Moon – is allegedly an anti-vaxxer proponent who was allegedly involved in the preventable measles deaths of children, and seems likely to be elevated to a peak medical position in his nation under an anti-science President. The anti-science, anti-education, pro-narcissist culture that has arisen since the religious zealotry of Ronald Reagan and Ayatollah Khomenei, now threatens scientific and social progress around the world.
But for me, another of the greatest tragedies of anti-science proponents and Moon conspiracy theorists is what they are missing: the grandeur of science and adventure, the optimism and excitement of taking footsteps into history, the achievement of working hard and honestly in order to learn and to uncover new discoveries, creating opportunities to make a difference and change the world.
Science will Win
Apollo 17 holds symbolic as well as scientific implications for us all. It was the only Apollo mission launched at night, yet it brought science to the space program by taking a geologist to the Moon, whose contributions are still making a difference today. As we face the dusk of dark times ahead, we can feel confident that science will survive and succeed: even luddites need modern scientific technology to sustain their lifestyles; no matter how insular their views, they dare not dismantle their own life support systems. As Stephen Hawking observed: “Science will win because it works”.
And we can find inspiration in science. One of history’s greatest scientists, Sir Isaac Newton, stated that, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Despite his flaws as a human being, he advanced science and acknowledged the greatness of those who had preceded him – and of those who would follow. Science does more than create opportunities for a better world; it embiggens the human soul and allows us to dream (and achieve) bigger and better and nobler than before.
We see that promise every time we cast our eyes skyward at the Moon.
“And as the Moon shines down
On the shattered launching ground,
I remember Apollo,
Who flew the chariot of the Sun.
And I wonder of the legends they will tell
A thousand years from now.”
– from “Legends” © 1980 Bill Roper
sung by Julie Ecklar, “To Touch the Stars” (Prometheus Music, 2004)
©2024 Geoff Allshorn