This is us 🌍 On Dec. 7, 1972—50 years ago today—the crew of Apollo 17 took this photo of Earth as they journeyed to the Moon. Known today as the "Blue Marble", this picture has since become one of the most iconic images of our home world. The three-astronaut crew of Apollo 17—mission commander Eugene Cernan, lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt, and command module pilot Ronald Evans—lifted off from NASAKennedy earlier that day. Cernan and Schmitt spent three days on the Moon's surface, collecting samples and performing scientific experiments over three different trips outside. Apollo 17 was the last mission to land humans on the Moon—but our next one is coming soon! Artemis I, our flight test of the systems that will send astronauts to lunar orbit, is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Dec. 11. After another test flight around the Moon with astronauts aboard, our Artemis III mission will land humans on the lunar surface for the first time in five decades—and th...