Apollo 17 investigate the possibility of relatively new volcanic activity in the same area. Cernan, Evans, and Schmitt returned to Earth on December 19 after a 12-day mission. Apollo 17 is the most recent manned Moon landing and the most recent time humans travelled beyond low Earth orbit. It was also the first mission to have no one on board who had been a test pilot; X-15 test pilot Joe Engle lost the lunar module pilot assignment to Schmitt, a geologist. The mission broke several records: the longest moon landing, longest total extravehicular activities (moonwalks), largest lunar sample, and longest time in
NASA Astronaut Group 7 also given support assignments for Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, with Bobko and Crippen participating in the Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test. Group 7 went on to form the core of early Space Shuttle pilots, upgrading to commander after their first flight, flying 17 STS missions between them, plus the Approach and Landing Tests of . NASA Astronaut Group 7 Astronaut Group 7, referred to in some documents as the USAF MOL Transfer, was a group of seven astronauts announced by NASA on August 14, 1969, and was the last group to be selected during the Apollo era. After