Only twelve people have ever walked on the moon. All twelve were astronauts, all twelve had undergone extensive training under NASA’s Apollo program and all twelve made history. But only one was an actual scientist. His name was Dr Harrison Schmitt and he was the geologist who walked on the moon.
Photo of Schmitt on the Moon taken from The European Space Agency website
Dr Harrison H. Schmitt was born in New Mexico in 1935, and after an extensive career in the world of Geology he was selected in 1965 for NASA’s first group of scientist-astronauts. In December 1972 he flew on Apollo 17 to the moon where he was the first, and only, scientist to ever visit our planet's natural satellite in order to make observations and collect data. Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon in the Apollo program and upon his return to Earth, Schmitt spent a few more years with NASA before moving on to politics and eventually teaching. Schmitt’s life and story is a truly inspiring one in not only the world of geology, but in science as a whole. The work he carried out has enabled many jumps in our understanding of the world beyond our atmosphere.
In 1957, Schmitt graduated from CalTech with a bachelor of science and subsequently went to study at the University of Oslo and then Harvard where he received a doctorate in Geology. Schmitt’s early career was primarily focused on Norwegian Geology. He began working with the Norwegian Geological Society in 1957 where he underwent field work along the country’s west coast. A few years later in 1964 he began working for the United States Geological Survey’s astrogeology group based out of Arizona serving as project chief for lunar field geological methods on contract to NASA where he was involved in photo and telescopic mapping of the moon. It was there that he started working on lunar geology.
Dr Harrison H. Schmitt - Photo taken from NASA
Just a year after joining the USGS, Schmitt transferred to NASA and where he was selected for the scientist-astronaut programme. As Schmitt was primarily a geologist, not a pilot as all pervious astronauts had been, he was required to undergo a 53-week flight training course at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. Alongside his astronaut training, he assisted the other Apollo flight crews with aspects of lunar geology and navigation as well as geological feature recognition. He also analysed samples brought back from the moon by Apollo missions prior to his own including petrographic (detailed rock description) and stratigraphic (study of rock layers) analysis. He also helped to integrate scientific activities into the Apollo lunar missions and was designated as mission scientists in support of the famous Apollo 11 mission during which man first set foot on the moon.
Originally scheduled to fly on Apollo 18 and 19 missions which went on to be cancelled, Schmitt was lucky to even make it to the moon. NASA, however, decided that they needed to have a qualified geologist examine the moon before they abandoned the Apollo programme (a decision scientists are very thankful for) so the original line up for Apollo 17 was changed and Schmitt was added. On 7 December 1972, Apollo 17 blasted off with Schmitt as its lunar module pilot and the lunar module Challenger made contact with the moons surface just 4 days later. Along with astronaut Eugene Cernan, Schmidt completed three days of geological and geophysical exploration of the Moon’s Taurus-Littrow Valley, an area known for volcanic activity, logging over 22 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. They collected rock and soil samples along with taking photos and setting up equipment. Much like Neil Armstrong’s "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, Schmitt made a similar exclamation as he first stepped foot on the moon, “It’s a good geologist’s paradise if I’ve ever seen one!’, and of course, he was right! Apollo 17 then left the moon on 14 December and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 9 December, safely retuning all three of its crew members to Earth.
After returning to our planet, Schmitt became chief of science-astronauts at NASA assisting in the Space Shuttle missions amongst other roles in the organisation. However, in 1975 he decided to resign from NASA and try his hand out in politics, successfully running for the United States Senate as a Republican in New Mexico. He served one six year term in the role and then went on to have a successful career working as a consultant and free-lance writer, speaking and writing on matters including space, science, technology and public policy.
Schmitt has been published in many papers from National Geographic to The Wall Street Journal, and even published a book in 2006 called ‘Return to the Moon’, in which he outlined a potential private sector approach to accessing helium-3 from the moon for use in fusion power. He continues to work on issues surrounding analysis of his data collected from Taurus-Littrow as well as aiding in NASA’s latest Artemis program which hopes to send the next generation of astronauts, including the first woman and the first person of colour, to the moon within the next decade.
Schmitt’s work has been invaluable to the world of astrogeology and his story and life is incredibly interesting. Checkout some of the links below to find out more:
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