From the dawn of life, it has tugged our oceans to create the tides. It has shone like a beacon for wanderers in the night. It has inspired the hearts of poets and stirred the souls of romantics. It is a metaphor for something unattainable, yet something that can be attained nonetheless with human ingenuity and desire.
It is the moon, on average a quarter of a million miles away from us. Yet between 1969 and 1972, 12 men spanned that unimaginable distance to set foot on its dusty surface. One of those men is now a UW-Madison professor who, in 1972, was one of three astronauts who piloted Apollo 17 into space and one of two to walk on the moon.
Harrison Schmitt, 69, is an emeritus professor of engineering physics who holds a doctorate in geology. In November 1964, he and 1,400 other hopefuls answered NASA's call for scientists to be trained as astronauts. On the strength of his geology credentials and his familiarity with aircraft and space simulators, he was one of six chosen for the program.
The training was intense, ranging from thousands of hours in simulators to survival training in Panama jungles. He practiced exploration and learned to expect the unexpected.
In 1970, Schmitt was assigned to the backup crew of Apollo 15 but did not fly. The following year, he got his big chance: He was assigned to be a primary crewman on Apollo 17. The training became even more intense as he underwent simulations to prepare him for the 13 days he would be in space. Finally, in December 1972, he and his fellow crewmen-naval aviator Gene Cernan and the late captain Ron Evans-boarded the Saturn V rocket and prepared for liftoff.
\We weren't nervous,"" Schmitt said. ""We'd been through simulations so many times that nothing about liftoff was unexpected. It was all very familiar until the engines ignited, then it was very exciting.""
Cernan was also ready.
""You're not scared because if you were you'd be driving a bus [as a career] instead. You're trained well,"" he said. ""Still, your heart beats pretty fast and the adrenaline pumps. Once you lift off, you know you're on your own-there's no one at the controls but you.""
As the engines roared, the astronauts felt the noise more than they heard it because they were 36 stories above the engines. Quickly the rocket soared, and the trio was hit instantly with four G's of force, where one G equals the force of gravity. The G forces eased up as the first rocket stage fell away. After about 10 minutes, the crew reached a 90-nautical-mile-high orbit and experienced its first taste of weightlessness.
""It feels like being in water without the water,"" Schmitt said. ""Or imagine this: Lie in bed for two straight weeks, just lie flat, and then get up quickly. You'll feel woozy and your balance won't be very good.""
""Being weightless looks like fun, like it's easy to get around, but it's cumbersome,"" Cernan said. ""There's no up or down, you can't keep anything in one place-it gets quite aggravating."" He said he preferred the gravity on the moon, one-sixth that of Earth's gravity, which allows for freedom of motion but without objects floating in every direction.
While in orbit, Schmitt took what has become the most famous photograph of Earth. As dazzling as the photo is, Schmitt and Cernan say it cannot do justice to what they actually saw-a colorful marble surrounded by an unimaginable black. Though they were busy with other tasks, all three men sneaked frequent glances out the window at the Earth.
""When you're about 200 miles away, all you see is the curved horizon,"" Cernan said. ""But as you get further, the curve starts to form something strange but familiar, and you realize you're looking at the whole world and you can actually see the Earth spinning on its invisible axis.""
In space, the crew mainly ate freeze-dried dehydrated food, which Schmitt described as ""not bad."" Meals included fruitcake, hot dogs and peanut butter.
Answering nature's call was not as difficult as some people think.
""Astronauts have a funnel for urination. [Urine] gets disposed of outside the ship, where it atomizes and freezes-it looks like fireworks,"" Schmitt said. The crew used plastic bags for solid waste.
On the third day, the lunar module separated from the ship and touched down. While Evans remained in orbit above them, Schmitt and Cernan explored the surface.
As he descended the ladder, Schmitt's first thought was to not fall on his rear. But once he got a few meters from the ship, he got his first real glimpse of the moonscape. They had landed, by design, in a large canyon surrounded by mountains over a mile high.
""The mountains were spectacularly illuminated against the blacker-than-black sky, and the sun was brilliant, brighter than any desert sun,"" Schmitt recalled.
He knew he couldn't spend too much time admiring the view. ""In today's dollars, that mission cost seven to eight million dollars a minute, so you're not going to stand around scratching yourself,"" he said.
The actual exploration had been carefully planned for almost two years.
""This wasn't some ad hoc field trip,"" Schmitt said. ""We had obligations, and we knew exactly what to do."" He and Cernan set about gathering specimens and examining the landscape. The first thing they noticed was that they were standing in orange soil that looked like it might have volcanic origins, but later analysis indicated it was a result of an impact crater.
Movement was not difficult for them. The bulky spacesuits made it hard for the astronauts to bend over, but in the lighter gravity, neither man had too much trouble. Each suit had water-cooled underwear to remove heat and prevent sweating.
In all, Schmitt and Cernan spent about 75 hours on the moon. Neither man ever feared that technical failure might leave them stranded.
""If I didn't have 100 percent faith I could get back, I wouldn't have gone. I didn't go to not come home,"" Cernan said. ""Fear didn't play a part-apprehension, maybe, but not fear.""
""We trusted our engineers. We had worked with them for years,"" Schmitt agreed. ""We believed in Newtonian physics-we knew what to expect."" In addition, virtually every process had a backup plan, which added to the men's confidence.
The only photograph of the lunar liftoff was taken from Earth and had expectedly poor resolution.
""Gene tried to persuade me to stay outside and take a really good picture of liftoff, but I politely declined,"" Schmitt joked.
Re-entry and splashdown were a little bumpy but otherwise uneventful, both men said.
All lunar samples were safely recovered and have been analyzed. The orange soil appears to be rich in 3He, a form of helium that could be used as a fuel source in fusion reactors. The trip also yielded insights into the moon's origins and its evolution as a small planet.
More than 30 years later, Schmitt and Cernan still feel intensely honored to have taken part in the moon landing.
""Every day, every time I talk to people, I feel very privileged I was there,"" Schmitt said.
""Sometimes it's like a dream-I know it happened, I can take myself back instantaneously in thought to where the flag is planted or where I wrote my daughter's initials, but sometimes it doesn't seem real,"" Cernan agreed.
Schmitt went on to a career in politics, elected in 1976 to one term as a Republican senator from New Mexico. He is now a consultant, and he teaches at UW-Madison about every two years, though he is not sure when his next class will be taught.
Schmitt's and Cernan's 1972 moonwalk was NASA's last mission in which astronauts walked on the moon. They said it is sometimes surreal to look up at the moon now and think, ""I was there."" They also pity skeptics who suggest the moon landings were frauds, mere Hollywood embellishments.
""The truth never needs defense, so those people don't bother me,"" Cernan said. ""I don't know if they really believe what they're saying, but if they do, it's a real shame. They're missing out on one of the greatest adventures in the history of mankind.""
