Apollo 17 achieved the longest stay on the Moon’s surface of any Apollo mission.
Launched on December 7, 1972, Apollo 17 carried astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans. Cernan and Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the lunar surface, conducting three moonwalks in the Taurus–Littrow valley.
The mission used the lunar roving vehicle to travel farther from the lunar module than earlier crews and collected a large variety of geological samples. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to walk on the Moon, while Cernan became the last person to leave the lunar surface during the Apollo era.
Apollo 17 was the sixth and final crewed lunar landing in the Apollo program. Its duration record is for surface stay, not total mission length or time spent in lunar orbit.