[Apollo 17]

A photograph depicting Commander Gene Cernan holding the American flag with his left hand with Earth in the background. The mission transcript reveals this to be a choreographed routine between Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot (and photographer) Harrison Schmitt.

After they finished, Cernan reflected aloud on the importance of the moment, noting: "It's got to be one of the most proud moments of my life. I guarantee you ... Houston, I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but this - this flag has flown in the MOCR [Mission Operations Control Room] since Apollo 11. And we very proudly deploy it on the Moon, to stay for as long as it can, in honor of all those people who have worked so hard to put us here and to put every other crew here and to make the country, United States and mankind, something different than it was."