Apollo 17 backup crew of Apollo 14) would become prime crew of the mission. NASA Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton ultimately assigned the backup crew of Apollo 14 (Cernan and Evans), along with Schmitt, to the prime crew of Apollo 17. The Apollo 15 prime crew received the backup assignment since this was to be the last lunar mission and the backup crew would not rotate to another mission. However, when the Apollo 15 postage stamp incident became public in early 1972 the crew was reprimanded by NASA and the United States Air Force (they were active duty officers). Director
Apollo 17 which the series was based, Austin remembers watching the Earth "fall away during Apollo XVII." In the 1998 film "Deep Impact" fictional astronaut Spurgeon "Fish" Tanner, portrayed by Robert Duvall, was described at a Presidential press conference as the "last man to walk on the Moon" by the President of the United States, portrayed by Morgan Freeman. In the Anime "Aldnoah.Zero", the Apollo 17 mission locates an ancient transporter gate leading to Mars left by an unknown, extinct alien race. This discovery is the divergence point for the story's alternative history. The song "Contact" from Daft Punk includes audio from