Apollo 17 astronauts. US astronauts Eugene Cernan and Dr Harrison Schmitt using their lunar rover to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon, as part of NASA's Apollo 17 mission. They landed on the Moon on 11 December 1972, and spent 75 hours on the surface. Ron Evans remained in orbit in the command module. Dr Schmitt, a geologist, is the only scientist to have landed on the Moon. Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission, and Schmitt and Cernan are the last people to have walked on the Moon. A total of 12 US astronauts walked on the Moon during the eleven manned Apollo missions, from 1968-1972.