He was the last man to walk on the Moon.
Astronaut Eugene Cernan was the commander of Apollo 17 when he became the last man to walk on the moon. On December 11 1972,
Cernan navigated the lunar module named Challenger to land on the Valley of Taurus-Littrow on the Moon. At the time, he knew that future moon missions had been cancelled, but when he died in 2017, he still couldn't quite believe that no astronaut had been back. It had been too long.
In 1972, Apollo 17 launched what would be NASA’s last trip to the moon. Cernan and fellow astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt safely landed and conducted three successful spacewalks while on the surface. They conducted research and explored the moonscape, trekking nearly 22 total miles and collecting approximately 238 pounds of moon rock. …show more content…
Cernan was skeptical. This substance shouldn't be on the moon. Could the glass on a light from the spacecraft have broken? Cernan looked more closely. Schmitt was right. He had, in fact, discovered orange regolith, or moon soil. The regolith turned out to be small pieces of orange glass, likely from a lunar volcano.
Before his final spacewalk was over, Cernan drove the lunar rover far from the Challenger. In the moon dust along the surface, he etched his daughter's initials: T D C. Since the moon does not have an atmosphere or wind, the initials will likely remain there forever.
Following the mission, he admitted his regret of not carving her initials into moon rock that he and Schmitt studied on the mission. Large and distinctive, it was set apart from other rocks in the crater.
Cernan and his crewmates safely returned to Earth on December 19, 1972.
In his autobiography titled “The Last Man on the Moon,” he ended the book with these mighty words, “Too many years have passed for me to still be the last man to have left his footprints on the Moon. I believe with all my heart that somewhere out there is a young boy
Astronaut Eugene Cernan was the commander of Apollo 17 when he became the last man to walk on the moon. On December 11 1972,
Cernan navigated the lunar module named Challenger to land on the Valley of Taurus-Littrow on the Moon. At the time, he knew that future moon missions had been cancelled, but when he died in 2017, he still couldn't quite believe that no astronaut had been back. It had been too long.
In 1972, Apollo 17 launched what would be NASA’s last trip to the moon. Cernan and fellow astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt safely landed and conducted three successful spacewalks while on the surface. They conducted research and explored the moonscape, trekking nearly 22 total miles and collecting approximately 238 pounds of moon rock. …show more content…
Cernan was skeptical. This substance shouldn't be on the moon. Could the glass on a light from the spacecraft have broken? Cernan looked more closely. Schmitt was right. He had, in fact, discovered orange regolith, or moon soil. The regolith turned out to be small pieces of orange glass, likely from a lunar volcano.
Before his final spacewalk was over, Cernan drove the lunar rover far from the Challenger. In the moon dust along the surface, he etched his daughter's initials: T D C. Since the moon does not have an atmosphere or wind, the initials will likely remain there forever.
Following the mission, he admitted his regret of not carving her initials into moon rock that he and Schmitt studied on the mission. Large and distinctive, it was set apart from other rocks in the crater.
Cernan and his crewmates safely returned to Earth on December 19, 1972.
In his autobiography titled “The Last Man on the Moon,” he ended the book with these mighty words, “Too many years have passed for me to still be the last man to have left his footprints on the Moon. I believe with all my heart that somewhere out there is a young boy