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Hello Fellow History Buffs,

Welcome to the December edition of The Throwback, my history-themed e-mail newsletter. If you are receiving this e-mail, you have signed up on my website or at one of my lectures or author events. 
 
You undoubtedly know the identity of the first man on the moon. But who was the last man on the moon?


Today is not only the anniversary of a "date which will live in infamy," it's the 50th anniversary of NASA's last mission to the moon. At 12:33 A.M. on December 7, 1972, the engines of a Saturn V rocket erupted and bathed Florida’s Cape Canaveral in an orange glow. As night turned to day, the fireball blinded spectators who came to see Apollo 17 roar skyward in the first nighttime launch of a manned moon mission.

Four days later, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and Eugene Cernan landed their lunar module in the Taurus-Littrow valley, which is deeper than the Grand Canyon. Over three consecutive days, the pair spent 22 hours and 4 minutes exploring the lunar surface, surpassing the entire time that Apollo 11 spent at Tranquility Base.


The astronauts drove their battery-powered lunar rover more than 20 miles across the moon’s surface—even overcoming a fender bender. When a hammer Cernan accidentally dropped knocked a wheel fender off the rover, the astronauts crafted a replacement by taping together four stiff maps and attaching the makeshift flap to the fender with two clamps. The Auto Body Association of America bestowed lifetime memberships upon Schmitt and Cernan for their makeshift fix. Duct tape saves the day again!

Cernan would be the last man on the moon—at least for now. (NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon's south pole in 2025.) Here were his final words on the lunar surface: "America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus- Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."

While history was being made, viewers tuning into NBC saw a rerun of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. After five previous lunar landings, familiarity had bred apathy among the American public.

While fledgling cable television channels broadcast live video of the moonwalks, the three broadcast networks aired highlights that were largely confined to late night. ABC squeezed in coverage of the first moonwalk during halftime of Monday Night Football. “The fact is that pictures, no matter how incredibly good their technical quality, of barren moonscapes and floating astronauts become ordinary and even tedious rather quickly,” reported the New York Times.

A photograph, however, was perhaps Apollo 17's enduring legacy. Approximately five hours after launch, one of the crew—exactly who isn’t known—snapped a picture of the full Earth 28,000 miles away. The "Blue Marble" image of the fully lit planet with its green and tan landmasses, sapphire oceans and white clouds and ice caps set against the dark void of space became a symbol for Earth Day and environmental causes.

If you'd like to relive the mission of Apollo 17, watch this CBS News recap with Walter Cronkite (complete with vintage 1972 commercials), follow the Apollo in Real Time website, or read my full piece on History.com.

Do you have any memories of watching Apollo 17? Let me know!

THE DOG WHO SAVED THE WORLD CUP: For you soccer...er...football fans out there, hope you're enjoying the World Cup. Even if you aren't a huge soccer...er...football lover (hand raised here), you might enjoy this caper: Four months before England won the World Cup in 1966, it actually lost it when a London thief swiped the solid gold trophy awarded to the tournament champion. While Scotland Yard came up empty in its search for soccer’s ultimate prize, it took a pooch named “Pickles” to get his country out of a pickle and crack the case. Click here to read this piece I wrote several years ago about The Dog Who Saved the World Cup.
WHAT I’M WATCHING: Looking for the perfect gift for that hard-to-shop-for Titanic buff in your life? How about a trip to see the wreck of the ill-fated liner in person? It could be yours for the low price of $250,000! As this CBS Sunday Morning segment reports, a company called OceanGate offers dives in a custom-built, carbon-fiber submersible to see the remains of HMS Titanic 2.4 miles below the surface of the North Atlantic. Eight-day voyages to the wreck leave from Newfoundland on an oil rig supply ship. Claustrophobes beware! The trip down to the ocean depths in the five-person submersible lasts 12 hours.
HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR THE HISTORY LOVER
If you're looking for a unique gift for that history and book lover in your life (and don't have the quarter-mil to drop on that Titanic trip), signed copies of both of my most recent books, When the Irish Invaded Canada and Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, are available by e-mailing me at chris@christopherklein.com. Or you can purchase inscribed copies of When the Irish Invaded Canada directly from The History List. I'll be happy to personalize any messages you'd like. 

If this e-mail was forwarded and you would like to subscribe to this monthly e-mail newsletter, click hereE-mail to let me know what you’re reading, watching, or listening to that I should check out or say hi on Twitter
 
Keep reading! 

Christopher Klein
Copyright © 2022 Christopher Klein, All rights reserved.


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