Schmitt, Harrison Hagan, << shmiht, HAR ih suhn HAH guhn >> (1935-…), was the first United States scientist-astronaut to fly in space. In December 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission, he and astronaut Eugene A. Cernan made the longest lunar visit—75 hours on the moon. Schmitt, a geologist, examined the moon’s surface and selected rocks for later study. He represented New Mexico as a Republican in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 1983. In 1994, Schmitt began teaching engineering physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also serves as a consultant at the university’s Fusion Technology Institute, which does research on alternative sources of energy.
Schmitt was born on July 3, 1935, in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He received a Ph.D. degree in geology from Harvard University in 1964. Schmitt was an astronaut from 1964 to 1975.
