Apollo 16 was launched on April 16th, 1973, landed on the lunar surface
in the Descartes Mountains
on April 21st, and returned to Earth on April 27th. Her
crew consisted on John Young, mission commander, Thomas Mattingly, command
module pilot, and Charles Duke, lunar module pilot. The command and service
module was named Casper and the
lunar module was named Orion. While on the lunar surface, the crew of Apollo
conducted three EVA lasting 20.3 hours and traversing 26.7 kilometers in the
lunar rover. They collected soil and rock samples from 11 sites, deployed or
conducted nine experiments, and took many photographs.
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was launched on December 7th, 1972, landed on the lunar
surface in the Taurus-Littrow Valley
on December 11, and returned to Earth on December 19th. Her crew
consisted of Eugene Cernan, mission commander, Ronald Evans, command module
pilot, and Harrison Schmitt, lunar module pilot. The command and service module
was called America
and the lunar module was called Challenger. The crew of Apollo 17 conducted
three EVAs on the lunar surface, totaling 22 hours and traversing 36
kilometers. They collected soil and rock samples from 22 sites, conducted or
deployed 10 experiments, and took numerous photographs.
Apollo 17 was the last of the Apollo missions to the Moon.
As of this date, no one has ventured back to the Moon.
Luna 21
Luna 21 launched on January
8th, 1973 and landed on the Moon on January 15th.
Luna 21 collected images of the lunar surface, examined ambient light levels to
determine the feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon, performed
laser ranging experiments from Earth, observed solar X-rays, measure local
magnetic fields, and studied mechanical properties of the lunar surface
material.
Luna 22
Luna 22 was launched on May 29th, 1974 and entered lunar orbit on June 2nd, 1974. It
conducted photographic mapping, as well as studying the Moon's magnetic field,
surface gamma ray emissions, composition of lunar surface rocks, the lunar
gravitational field, micrometeorites, and cosmic rays.