1972 saw humanity's last crewed mission to the Moon of the 20th century,

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, ...

Launches

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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December

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Launches from the Moon

Deep space rendezvous in 1972

*February 21 –

Luna 20 ''Luna 20'' was the second of three successful Soviet lunar sample return missions. It was flown as part of the Luna program as a robotic competitor to the six successful Apollo lunar sample return missions. ''Luna 20'' was placed in an int ...

, 55g from Apollonius Crater (sample return mission) *April 21 –

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth human spaceflight, crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the second o ...

, 95 kg from

Descartes Highlands The Descartes Highlands is an area of lunar highlands located on the near side that served as the landing site of the American Apollo 16 mission in early 1972. The Descartes Highlands is located in the area surrounding Descartes crater, after ...

(sample return mission) *July 22 –

Venera 8 Venera 8 ( meaning ''Venus 8'') was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus and was the second robotic space probe to conduct a successful landing on the surface of Venus. Venera 8 was a Venus atmospheric probe and la ...

atmospheric probe worked for 50 min on the Venerian surface *December 11 –

, 111 kg from

Taurus–Littrow Taurus–Littrow is a Moon, lunar valley located on the Near side of the Moon, near side at the coordinates . It served as the landing site for the United States, American Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, the last crewed mission to the Moon ...

(sample return mission)

References

Footnotes

{{Orbital launches in 1972 Spaceflight by year