Harrison Schmitt cancelled in September 1970, the community of lunar geologists supporting Apollo felt so strongly about the need to land a professional geologist on the Moon, that they pressured NASA to reassign Schmitt to a remaining flight. As a result, Schmitt was assigned in August 1971 to fly on the last mission, Apollo 17, replacing Joe Engle as Lunar Module Pilot. Schmitt landed on the Moon with commander Gene Cernan in December 1972. Schmitt claims to have taken the photograph of the Earth known as "The Blue Marble", possibly one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence. NASA officially
NASA Astronaut Group 2 damaged station. Jim Lovell, for commanding Apollo 13. Thomas P. Stafford, for commanding the international Cold War Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Ed White, killed on Apollo 1. John Young, for commanding the first Space Shuttle mission STS-1. The first episode, "Can We Do This?", of the HBO miniseries, "From the Earth to the Moon" depicts the first meeting of the New Nine. The eleventh episode, "The Original Wives' Club", depicts how the space program affected the wives of this group. NASA Astronaut Group 2 NASA's Astronaut Group 2, also known as The New Nine, was the second group of astronauts selected