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 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