---
title: "When did a human last walk on the Moon?"
description: "Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave the surface, on Apollo 17, 14 December 1972. What happened, why it has not happened since, and whether it plausibly could again."
url: https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/human-on-the-moon/
site: "At One Place"
---

# When did a human last walk on the Moon?

**When did a human last walk on the Moon?: 14 December 1972**

Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave the surface, on Apollo 17

Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent three days on the surface and Cernan was last up the ladder. Twelve people have walked on the Moon and all twelve did so between July 1969 and December 1972 — a window of forty-one months. Everyone who has flown in space since has stayed in low Earth orbit, which is a few hundred kilometres up against the Moon's 384,000.

- **What:** Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave the surface, on Apollo 17
- **When:** 14 December 1972
- **Category:** Space
- **Could this change?:** Yes. This streak could end, and if it does this page becomes a historical note rather than an answer.

## Space

| Question | When |
| --- | --- |
| When did the Space Shuttle last fly? | 21 July 2011 |
| When was Halley's Comet last visible? | 9 February 1986 |

> This page gives a date and never a "years ago". These pages are built as static files, so a computed interval would freeze at build time and quietly become wrong — which on a reference site is worse than making the reader do the subtraction.

## Common questions

### When did a human last walk on the Moon?

14 December 1972 — Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave the surface, on Apollo 17.

### What happened?

Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent three days on the surface and Cernan was last up the ladder. Twelve people have walked on the Moon and all twelve did so between July 1969 and December 1972 — a window of forty-one months. Everyone who has flown in space since has stayed in low Earth orbit, which is a few hundred kilometres up against the Moon's 384,000.

### Could it happen again?

Yes. This is one of the entries where the streak could plausibly end, which is stated on the page rather than left implied.

## Related pages

- [When did the Space Shuttle last fly?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/space-shuttle/)
- [When was Halley's Comet last visible?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/halleys-comet/)
- [When was the US Constitution last amended?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/constitutional-amendment/)
- [When was Halley's Comet last visible?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/halleys-comet/)
- [When did the prime meridian last move?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/prime-meridian/)
- [When was the metre last redefined?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/metre-redefined/)
- [When did Britain last change its currency system?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/decimal-currency-uk/)
- [When did the US flag last change?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-flag-change/)
- [Everything, most recent first](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/)

## Sources

- NASA — National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://www.nasa.gov/) [Public domain (US Government)]