Video: 'Apollo 17 "On The Shoulders of Giants" - NASA Space Program &' (Dec. 19, 1972 at 25:17)

(Tuesday, December 19, 1972, 2:25 p.m. EST) — The Apollo 17 spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and landed safely today in the Pacific Ocean four miles from the recovery ship, the USS Ticonderoga.

Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt were then retrieved by a recovery helicopter and were safely aboard the recovery ship 52 minutes after landing, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.