1972: Apollo 17 (NASA)
Video from the channel International Astronautical Federation about Apollo 17, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 19:54. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.
What it shows
NASA film about Apollo 17 (AS-512), combining narration with the crew's actual communications. It covers the night launch of the Saturn V, which lights up the Kennedy Space Center as if it were daytime, orbital insertion, the docking of the command module America with the lunar module Challenger, and the three-day journey to the Moon. The central part shows the descent and landing, with altitude and velocity figures called out in the cabin, and the surface excursions of Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt while Ron Evans remains in orbit.
When and where it was filmed
The footage is from December 1972. The spacecraft enters lunar orbit on December 10, and Challenger lands on the 11th in the Taurus-Littrow valley. Scenes from mission control and the science support room in Houston are interspersed.
Context
It shows the deployment of the ALSEP experiment package, drilling to extract core samples and emplace probes, and the repair of the Rover's rear fender — a procedure rehearsed on the ground by John Young, commander of Apollo 16, using maps joined with tape and telescope lamp clips. The film closes with the ceremony in which Cernan dedicates a rock to the countries of the world and speaks the program's last words on the lunar surface before liftoff.