On this day in 1972 Apollo 17, the last of the Apollo missions, was launched. The crew spent three days on the lunar surface and collected scientific data from the surface as well as from orbit. One of the experiments of the mission involved five pocket mice that were brought along to test whether they would suffer any damage from cosmic rays.
The crew gave the mice the unofficial names “Fe”, “Fi”, “Fo”, “Fum” and “Phooey”.
This was the last time that humans visited the moon or traveled beyond low earth orbit.