January 5: The 37th President of the United States Richard Milhouse Nixon directs NASA to begin the development of the Space Shuttle.

January 16: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Miami Dolphins, 24 to 3, to win Super Bowl VI in New Orleans, Louisiana.

February 3: The Winter Olympics opening ceremony is held in Sapporo, Japan.

February 16: Professional basketball player Wilt Chamberlin scores his 30,000th point.

February 18: The Soviet Union launches unmanned lunar sample return mission Luna 20 towards the Moon.

February 21: US President Nixon begins a visit to China.  The objective of this diplomatic trip is a normalization of relations with the communist country.

February 21: Soviet spacecraft Luna 20 successfully lands on the Moon at Mare Fecunditatis.

February 22: The ascent stage from Luna 20 lifts off from the Moon carrying 30 grams of lunar geological samples.

February 25: The Luna 20 return capsule returns to Earth and lands in the Soviet Union.

March 2: NASA launches space probe Pioneer 10 towards the outer solar system.

April 16: Apollo 16 lunar module Orion with astronauts John Young and Charles Duke lands at the Descartes region of the Moon.  I am 13 years old.  For my photographic diary of the Apollo 16 mission follow the Apollo 16 TV links on this page. AP 16 TV1 AP 16 TV2 AP 16 TV3 AP 16 TV4

May 15: Arthur Bremer attempts to assassinate US Presidential candidate George Wallace. Wallace survives, but is paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

May 27: Mark Donahue wins the 56th running of the Indianapolis 500.

June 17: An episode in American politics known as the Watergate Scandal commences with the arrest of five White House operatives who were caught burglarizing the Democratic National Committee offices.

August 26: The Summer Olympics opening ceremony is held for the XXth Olympiad in Munich, West Germany.

September 1: US chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spasky for the world chess title in Reykjavik, Iceland.

September 5: A Palestinian terrorist group known as "Black September" takes Israeli athletes and coaches hostage at the Olympic village.

September 10: The Soviet Union defeats the United States in Olympic basketball. The outcome of the game is controversial and it marks the first international defeat for a US basketball team.

November 7: Republican incumbent President Richard Nixon defeats Democrat George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.

December 7: Apollo 17, the final manned mission to the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

December 11: Apollo 17 lunar module Challenger with astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt lands at the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon.  I am 14 years old.  For my photographic diary of the Apollo 17 EVAs  follow the Apollo 17 TV links on this page. AP 17 TV1 AP 17 TV2

December 19: Apollo 17 command module America returns to Earth with its crew of Cernan, Evans, and Schmitt.