Harrison Schmitt credits the image to the entire Apollo 17 crew. While on the Moon's surface, Schmitt — the only geologist in the astronaut corps — collected the rock sample designated Troctolite 76535, which has been called "without doubt the most interesting sample returned from the Moon". Among other distinctions, it is the central piece of evidence suggesting that the Moon once possessed an active magnetic field. As he returned to the Lunar Module before Cernan, Schmitt is the next-to-last person to have walked on the Moon's surface. After the completion of Apollo 17, Schmitt played an active role in documenting the
The Reluctant Astronaut 1998 autobiography, the infamous "Apollo 1" fire led to Universal Pictures being skeptical about releasing a comedy on space travel so soon after the tragedy. Not as popular as his first film ventures, "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" (1964) and "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966), due to its connection to the Apollo program, "The Reluctant Astronaut" still was a popular children's film and was frequently shown on weekend afternoons. Knotts was nominated for the 1967 Golden Laurel Male Comedy Performance Award for his role in "The Reluctant Astronaut". For the benefits in publicity for their programs, NASA also named Knotts,