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
Ireland lunar sample displays fragment that was cut from lunar basalt 70017. The sample was collected on the moon by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt in 1972. It was cut into one-gram fragments back on earth and this specimen was enveloped in a plastic ball and mounted on a wooden plaque along with Ireland's flag, which had been taken to the moon and back on Apollo 17. The plaque was sent to Ireland by Richard Nixon in 1973 and is in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. Ireland lunar sample displays The Ireland lunar sample displays are two commemorative plaques consisting of small