December 14, 1972: Challenger, the lunar module of Apollo 17 blasts off from the surface of the Moon, to rejoin the command module in orbit, to head back to Earth. Human beings have not been on the Moon since.
The mission launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 7. The commanding officer was Captain Eugene A. Cernan, U.S. Navy, who had flown on Gemini 9, and was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 10. The pilot of the command module, America, was Captain Ronald E. Evans Jr., U.S. Navy. The pilot of Challenger was Dr. Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt, a civilian scientist.
The mission reached lunar orbit on December 10, and Challenger landed on the surface the next day. The mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission, 12 days, 14 hours; greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type, 4.7 miles; longest total duration of lunar-surface extravehicular activities, 22 hours, 4 minutes; largest lunar-sample return, (approximately 254 pounds; longest time in lunar orbit, 6 days, 4 hours; and greatest number of lunar orbits, 75.
They took off from the Moon at 10:54 PM, U.S. Eastern Time, on December 14. As Cernan boarded Challenger after Schmitt, that made Cernan -- so far -- the last human being to walk on the Moon. They splashed down on Earth on December 19.
None of the Apollo 17 astronauts ever flew in space again. Ron Evans died in 1990. Gene Cernan became a consultant for ABC News' space-themed broadcasts, and died in 2017. Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican from New Mexico, serving 1 term. As of December 14, 2022, he is still alive.
Challenger would later be used for the name of a Space Shuttle, which was first launched in 1983, and was destroyed due to a fuel leak in 1986, killing all 7 astronauts board.
In 2022, NASA announced the Artemis program, intending to put Americans back on the Moon, possibly as soon as 2024.
UPDATE: It took until April 6, 2026 for Artemis II to reach lunar orbit. It had been 53 years, 3 months and 23 days since humans were there. None of the 4 Artemis II crewmembers had yet been born when Apollo 17 left.
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December 14, 1972 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA scheduled no games for this date. The ABA scheduled 4:
* The Indiana Pacers beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 111-104 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.
* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Kentucky Colonels, 121-113 at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas. Artis Gilmore scored 36 points in defeat.
* The Denver Rockets beat the Virginia Squires, 103-99 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver.
* And the Utah Stars beat the Memphis Tams, 147-97 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.
There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Boston Garden. And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
And there were 3 games in the World Hockey Association:
* The New York Raiders beat the Ottawa Nationals, 4-3 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).
* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Chicago Cougars, 6-3 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.
* And the New England Whalers beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 5-2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
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