Harrison Hagan “Jack” Schmitt was a professional geologist selected by NASA in 1965 as part of the first astronaut group chosen specifically for scientific expertise.
Before joining NASA, Schmitt earned a doctorate in geology from Harvard and worked with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology program, helping develop methods for lunar field geology.
NASA originally assigned him as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 15 and later selected him for Apollo 17, the final Apollo lunar landing mission.
Apollo 17 launched on December 7, 1972 with Eugene Cernan as commander, Ronald Evans as command-module pilot, and Schmitt as lunar-module pilot.
The landing site in the Taurus-Littrow Valley was selected because it offered access to both ancient highland material and relatively young volcanic deposits.
Schmitt and Cernan spent more than three days on the lunar surface and conducted three major extravehicular traverses using the lunar roving vehicle.
Schmitt’s geology training affected how samples were described, selected, and interpreted in real time. One important find was orange volcanic glass soil at Shorty Crater.
Apollo 17 returned approximately 110 kilograms of lunar samples, more than any previous Apollo mission.
Schmitt was the first professional scientist to walk on the Moon and the twelfth person to do so. Cernan, not Schmitt, was the final person to leave the lunar surface.
For TransitSatellite, this page should be classified and cross-linked as space transportation/science even though the master catalog currently places Schmitt inside a mixed maritime-technology group. Preserving catalog location does not justify misrepresenting the subject domain.