Apollo 17 was launched at 12:33 am EST on December 7, 1972. A night launch was required to put the spacecraft on the correct trajectory so that when they arrived in lunar orbit, they would pass over the intended landing site. The launch was delayed 2.5 hours when the computer which controls the last few minutes of the countdown failed to send a command to pressurize the third stage’s liquid oxygen tank. Once the launch team devised a way around the problem, the launch could go ahead. At liftoff, the rocket looked like a sun rising from the Florida swamp.