Apollo 17 Ends Moon Era: Last Men Walk on Lunar Surface
Apollo 17 splashes down after the final manned lunar mission, ending humanity's direct footprint on the Moon for decades. This return sealed the end of the Apollo program, shifting NASA's focus from exploration to developing reusable spacecraft like the Space Shuttle.
December 19, 1972
54 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on December 19
Caracalla couldn't share power. His brother Geta arrived at their mother's apartments believing the family peace talks were real — he'd left his guards outside.…
Licinius didn't abdicate. He surrendered. Constantine's army had crushed his forces at Chrysopolis — 25,000 of Licinius's men dead in a single afternoon. His w…
Byzantine forces dragged Pope Martin I from Rome to Constantinople, where imperial judges subjected the pontiff to a sham trial for opposing Monothelitism. The …
Henry Plantagenet was 21 years old and already controlled more of France than the French king did. His coronation made him ruler of an empire stretching from Sc…
Nineteen cardinals locked themselves in the Lateran Palace for three days. When they finally emerged on December 19, 1187, they'd chosen Paolo Scolari—a Roman n…
Anne of Brittany was 13. Her duchy was Europe's last independent region between France and the Empire, and everyone wanted it. So her advisors married her to Ma…
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