At 23:35 UTC on Dec. 16, 1972, the Apollo 17 command module, America, successfully completed its trans-Earth injection burn, sending it and its crew of NASA astronauts Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans on a return trajectory back to Earth. The moment marked the final time a crewed Apollo spacecraft was in orbit around the Moon, and since that moment, no crewed spacecraft has ever ventured to the Moon’s vicinity.
Now, 52 years, three months, and 16 days after that moment, humanity is poised to return to the Moon.
