On December 19, 1972, Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt -- the last three men to ever set foot on the moon -- crashed back to Earth, landing about 400 miles southeast of American Samoa in the Pacific Ocean. A helicopter came and picked up the men, and brought them to a nearby American aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga.
Below, recent Pictures of the Day:
Image: NASA.
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Rebecca J. Rosen is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where she oversees coverage of American constitutional law and government in the Battle for the Constitution series.