Departure: Gene Cernan, last man to walk on the Moon, dies

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/17/2017 at 09:59 • Filed to: wingspan, planelopnik, spacelopnik

NASA photo

Eugene Andrew Cernan was born on March 14, 1934 in Chicago, and studied Engineering at Purdue University before joining the US Navy as a pilot. In 1963, Cernan was selected in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of US astronauts along with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! among others. Cernan went to space for the first time as the pilot of Gemini 9A, with astronaut !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as Command Pilot. The two flew the mission because the primary crew had been killed in a plane crash, and the mission was scheduled to rendezvous and dock with a target vehicle in Earth orbit, but they were unable to due to damaged docking equipment. During the mission, Cernan performed the second American spacewalk ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , or extravehicular activity).

Cernan’s astronaut career continued into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , where he flew as the Lunar Module Pilot on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 mission which made !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the first man to set foot on the Moon. Cernan flew the Lunar Module to within 8.4 nautical miles of the lunar surface, and the crew set a world record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle at 24,791 mph. They also set a record for flying the farthest distance from home when their spacecraft orbited the far side of the Moon while Houston was on the far side of the Earth.

Cernan walks on the Moon during Apollo 17 (NASA)

In order to have an opportunity to command a lunar mission, Cernan passed up the chance to walk on the Moon as the Lunar Module Pilot on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and instead flew as Commander of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was the final Apollo mission to the Moon. Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! spent just over three days on the Moon, and performed three moonwalks totaling about 22 hours outside the spacecraft. They also put more than 22 miles on the Lunar Rover’s odometer, and Cernan set an unofficial lunar speed record of 11.2 mph on the Rover’s final drive. As Cernan began to climb the the ladder to leave the Moon, he said,

Bob, this is Gene, and I’m on the surface; and, as I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come – but we believe not too long into the future – I’d like to just (say) what I believe history will record: that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.

Cernan driving the Lunar Rover (NASA)

During the Apollo program, Cernan became one of only three astronauts to fly to the Moon twice ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , commander of the first !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flight, were the others). Cernan left the Navy and NASA in 1976 to enter private business, but remained an advocate of space flight, appearing as a contributor on ABC News and writing a memoir of his career titled The Last Man on the Moon . Triton College, in Riverside Illinois, is home to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which features a planetarium and artifacts from Cernan’s Gemini and Apollo missions. Cernan died on January 16, 2017 at the age of 82.

DISCUSSION (4)

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn
01/17/2017 at 10:11

My dad is friends with him from having crossed paths numerous times in business and on Cernan’s book/speaking circuit. A great guy by all accounts, a real class act, and he even wrote a letter of recommendation for a young family friend to help him gain admission to the Naval Academy a few years ago.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often
01/17/2017 at 11:12

I grew up learning about Cernan through his space center. I lived in Oak Park, outside of Chicago, and we’d often take field trips there. It was my first experience with a planetarium. There were so many great astronauts after Armstrong, but they aren’t nearly the household names they should be.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn
01/18/2017 at 18:12

I think all of them raised the term astronaut to the household word that it is. Astronauts are stored and practice on the top shelf, and for modest salaries.

For Sweden > ttyymmnn
01/19/2017 at 12:41

I didn’t meet him, but I did see him at an event last year; he looked great.