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Gene Cernan saluting, in front of the Lunar Module and Lunar Roving Vehicle
Gene Cernan saluting, in front of the Lunar Module and Lunar Roving Vehicle

Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, with, on December 11, the most recent crewed lunar landing. Commander Gene Cernan (pictured) and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon, NASA replaced Joe Engle with Schmitt, who became the only professional geologist to land on the Moon. Mission planners sought a site shaped by volcanism, and selected Taurus–Littrow, where apparently-volcanic features had been seen. The mission lifted off early on December 7 after the only launch-pad delay in the Apollo program. Cernan and Schmitt landed and completed three moonwalks, taking lunar samples and deploying scientific instruments. Orange soil discovered at Shorty crater proved to be volcanic in origin from early in the Moon's history. The command module, which also contained a biological experiment with five mice, returned to Earth on December 19. (Full article...)

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St. Bernward, Döhren
St. Bernward, Döhren

In the news

Brittney Griner in 2019
Brittney Griner

On this day

December 11:

Parliament House on fire
Parliament House on fire
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Today's featured picture

Mossy leaf-tailed gecko camouflaging itself on a branch
Mossy leaf-tailed gecko revealing itself from its camouflage

In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be a predation strategy or an anti-predator adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle and mimicry. Crypsis can involve visual, olfactory (with pheromones), or auditory concealment. When it is visual, the term cryptic coloration, effectively a synonym for animal camouflage, is sometimes used, but many different methods are employed by animals or plants. These photographs, captured in Montagne d'Ambre National Park, Madagascar, depict a mossy leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus sikorae) exhibiting crypsis by camouflaging itself on a branch (above), and revealing itself from its camouflage (below).

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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