Harrison Hagan Schmitt landed in the Valley of Taurus-Littrow as the only scientist and the last of 12 men to step on the Moon during the Apollo Program. Schmitt consults with a number of commercial and governmental entities on aerospace and Earth and space science issues. He also continues to participate in research and publications related to his December 1972 exploration of the valley of Taurus-Littrow on the Moon. Significant portions of his ongoing activity relates to the integration of 50 years of reported analytical research on lunar samples with the photographs and observations he made during the Apollo 17 mission.
Receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Caltech, Schmitt studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Oslo, Norway, and attended graduate school at Harvard University. Geological field studies in Norway in 1957-58 and 1960 formed the basis of his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1964. His geological fieldwork on behalf of corporate clients and the United States Geological Survey included projects in California, Alaska, Montana, Arizona, and New England as well as the Moon.
Selected as one of the first six Scientist-Astronauts in 1965 while a geologist with the United States Geological Survey, Schmitt then received Air Force jet pilot wings in 1965 and Navy helicopter wings in 1967, ultimately logging more than 2100 hours of flying time. As he prepared for a flight assignment, Schmitt organized lunar science training for the Apollo mission crews and oversaw many of the preparations for Apollo 8 through 13. After training as back-up Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 15, Schmitt flew in space as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17 – the last Apollo mission to the Moon, and was the last Apollo astronaut to step on the lunar surface.
Schmitt was elected to the United States Senate in 1976. Senator Schmitt worked as a member of the Senate Commerce, Banking, Appropriations, Intelligence, and Ethics Committees. In his last two years in the Senate, Schmitt held the position of Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space and of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.
In addition to being awarded nine honorary doctorate degrees by various United States and foreign universities, Schmitt has received numerous prestigious scientific, space and public service recognitions. Most recently he became the recipient of the 2022 Werhner von Braun Space Flight Award, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s 2019 Gold Medal, Also, he has earned the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and Distinguished Service Medal.
As an aerospace consultant, Schmitt also speaks and writes on policy issues of the future, the science of the Moon and planets, history of space flight and geology, human and robotic space exploration, space law, and origin of life. He has helped found Interlune Corp., a lunar resource enterprise. Schmitt is the author of a broad array of scientific papers published since 1964 and of Return to the Moon (2006 Springer-Praxis), a book that describes a private enterprise approach to providing lunar helium-3 fusion energy resources for use on Earth. Schmitt also publishes his online Diary of the 12th Man, chronicling his experiences as the Lunar Module Pilot and geologist on the 1972 the extraordinarily productive Apollo 17 mission to the Moon. (https://www.americasuncommonsense.com/). This online work is now published in book form, funded by NASA’s Artemis III project.