- in February 1972: the track became a smash hit single in the United States, reaching No. 1 for six weeks on both the Billboard Hot 100 and easy listening charts in the spring of 1972, with a No. 4 R&B chart peak. Reaching No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart, Flack's "The First Time<span style="font-size=50%>...</span>" was No. 1 for three weeks on the singles chart in Canada's RPM magazine. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was played as the wake-up music on flight day 9 to the astronauts aboard Apollo 17 on their last day in Lunar orbit (Friday, December 15, 1972) before returning to Earth, thus ending the last human explorations of the Moon. The use of the song was most likely a reference to the "face" of the Moon below the spacecraft. Chart history Weekly charts Roberta Flack Year-end charts All-time charts Celine Dion Leona Lewis Matt Cardle See also List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1972 List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1972 (U.S.) List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1970s List of number-one singles of 1972 (Canada) References External links Superseventies.com - with quotes from Roberta Flack and information on the song's background 1957 songs 1972 singles 2000 singles Songs written by Ewan MacColl Roberta Flack songs Celine Dion songs The Kingston Trio songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs We Five songs Andy Williams songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia RPM Top Singles number-one singles Grammy Award for Record of the Year Grammy Award for Song of the Year Atlantic Records singles A&M Records singles Pop ballads Vocal jazz songs Richard Marx songs