Of the 12 men who walked on the moon, six are still alive, the youngest, Charlie Duke is 81. Aldrin, the oldest, is 86. Its becoming less and less likely we'll have someone back on the moon before these men are gone. That is a goddamn tragedy.
The guts these folks had to fly such tiny primitive compared-to-today spaceships is still amazing to me. Sadly back then I always thought I'd be able to walk on the moon in my lifetime but clearly that will not happen. I still think watching a Saturn V launch was more impressive than the Space Shuttle was.
Gene was a boss.<p>He used to walk into my sister-in-law's restaurant when I was a kid. Great person and welcoming smile. Sad to see the pioneer disapear.<p>When we walked out, my father told me "that was greatness, don't forget it." I didn't understand it till years later.<p>I think there's something surreal about the astronauts, not an ounce of negativity out of them toward other humans. Wish I had talked to him then.
Just two days ago I watched "The Last Man on the Moon" with my son (on Netflix). Good documentary, but sad to see him pass. Those Apollo astronauts were truly remarkable people.
In case the headline in the article confuses anyone, there still are living people who walked on the moon (for instance Buzz Aldrin), but Gene Cernan was the <i>most recent</i> person to do so, having been on the final Apollo mission. Nobody has walked on the moon since
Gene Cernan flew on Apollo 10, the "dress rehearsal" for Apollo 11 (the first mission to land on the moon).<p>The command module for Apollo 10 was named "Charlie Brown" [0] who continuously had the football yanked before he could kick it[1]. A little joke from NASA, I think.<p>0: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_10#Mission_parameters" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_10#Mission_parameters</a><p>1: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=charlie+brown+football+yank" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/search?q=charlie+brown+football+yank</a>
I never got the chance to meet Gene Cernan, but I spent some time chatting with Gen Tom Stafford, and part of that covered Gemini IX which they flew together. Stafford was the consummate gentleman and never said anything negative about anyone, but it was clear that he had tremendous respect and no little affection for Cernan.<p>Another loss.
I see nobody has mentioned my favorite fact about him: while the rovers were designed to have a top speed of 8mph, Gene Cernan pushed his to 11.2 mph, more than a 40% increase of the maximum speed.<p>If 11.2 mph sounds slow to you, he also set another speed record: highest speed attained by any manned vehicle, 24,791 mph or almost 40,000 kilometers per hour, on Apollo 10's return to Earth.<p>Also, prior missions didn't go more than 3 miles from the LM, but Cernan pushed his to go five miles away. This meant that if the rover failed - remember, this thing had driven on the moon exactly twice at this point - he would have had to walk five miles to the LM in a bulky, heavy spacesuit, in unforgiving conditions on the surface of the Moon.
Honest question: what is the incentive/motive to go back to the moon now? Part of the motive for the Apollo missions was initial exploration. What is the motive now? We've already proven that we can do it.<p>Does a moon base help? And if it's mining for minerals, is it economically a viable plan?
Godspeed Gene. I hope another generation soon has the fortitude to put forth the effort you and everyone else did to make Apollo happen.<p>It's a shame to see the mantle of the last man on the moon not be passed on before he passed on himself.
His words as he left the moon for the last time:<p><i>"We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return with peace and hope for all mankind."</i><p>Amen. Some day.
What really gets me is how modern and futuristic the gear in the two photos of Cernan looks--although unfortunately we haven't had any contemporary lunar history to make anything from Apollo look old-fashioned (except for maybe the computers).
Godspeed, Mr. Cernan.<p>During a recent winter storm, we started re-watching 'From The Earth To The Moon', the HBO mini-series on the Apollo program. Highly recommended.
A week ago I found <a href="http://apollo17.org/" rel="nofollow">http://apollo17.org/</a> which has an amazing presentation of the photos, videos, and audio that came out of the Apollo 17 mission.<p>Gene seemed like a really fun guy to go to the moon with.
> The mission included a descent to within eight nautical miles of the moon's surface.<p>Nautical miles are used in navigation to account for the extra distance created by the earth's curvature. Why would it be used for distance measurements in space?
R.I.P. The XKCD (893) truly nailed it.<p>And, NASA made a typo.<p><pre><code> > He went into private business and served as television
> commentator for early fights of the space shuttle.</code></pre>