"Cernan" redirects here. For the Chicago-area public planetarium named in his honor, see Cernan Earth and Space Center. For the minor planet named for him, see 12790 Cernan. For the location in France, see Cernans.
Gene Cernan
Cernan in 1969
Born
Eugene Andrew Cernan
(1934-03-14)March 14, 1934
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died
January 16, 2017(2017-01-16) (aged 82)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Resting place
Texas State Cemetery
Education
Purdue University (BS)
Naval Postgraduate School (MS)
Awards
Astronaut Badge (2)
Distinguished Flying Cross
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Space career
NASA astronaut
Rank
Captain, USN
Time in space
23d 14h 15m
Selection
NASA Group 3 (1963)
Total EVAs
4
Total EVA time
24h 11m
Missions
Gemini 9A
Apollo 10
Apollo 17
Mission insignia
Retirement
July 1, 1976
Website
Official website
Signature
Eugene Andrew Cernan (/ˈsɜːrnən/; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the 11th human being to walk on the Moon. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he remains the most recent person to walk on the Moon.
Before becoming an astronaut, Cernan graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University in Indiana, and joined the U.S. Navy through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). After flight training, he received his naval aviator wings and served as a fighter pilot. In 1963, he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Achieving the rank of captain, he retired from the Navy in 1976.
Cernan traveled into space three times and to the Moon twice: as pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966, as lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969, and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972, the final Apollo lunar landing. Cernan was also a backup crew member of the Gemini 12, Apollo 7 and Apollo 14 space missions.
Eugene Andrew Cernan (/ˈsɜːrnən/; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer...
Command and Service Module (CSM) while astronauts Thomas Stafford and GeneCernan flew the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) to within 14.4 kilometers (7.8 nmi)...
Bassett, in an air crash. The Gemini 9 backup crew of Tom Stafford and GeneCernan became the prime crew of Gemini 9A, and Lovell and Aldrin became their...
(ISBN 0-671-53464-5) The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by GeneCernan (ISBN 0-312-19906-6) Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That...
have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander GeneCernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command...
Apollo missions; five also flew Gemini missions. Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, GeneCernan and David Scott walked on the Moon. Group 3 was the first to waive the...
Administration. Speakers include Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, Jim Lovell, Jerry Bostick, Ed Fendell, GeneCernan, John Llewellyn, John Aaron, Glynn Lunney, Wally...
Cooper and Pete Conrad in 1965 Apollo 17 Command Module America flown by GeneCernan, Ronald Evans, and Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, along with a biological...
Charles Bassett. They were replaced by the backup crew of Tom Stafford and GeneCernan, while Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin moved up from the backup crew of Gemini...
the fifth crewed Mercury mission and the Gemini IX spacecraft flown by GeneCernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966. In the 1980s, the six then-surviving...
you weren't going. That sort of gave it away." Even Tom Stafford and GeneCernan did not get LLTV training for their Apollo 10 mission which was the first...
discussion, decided that he could not work with Borman. According to GeneCernan, "the egos of Grissom and Borman were too big to fit into a single spacecraft"...
Engle as Lunar Module Pilot. Schmitt landed on the Moon with commander GeneCernan in December 1972. Schmitt claims to have taken the photograph of the...
87°50′33″W / 41.9174°N 87.8424°W / 41.9174; -87.8424 (Cernan Earth and Space Center) The Cernan Earth and Space Center is a public planetarium on the...
spacecraft. Their deaths promoted the backup crew, Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan, to the prime crew. The mission was renamed Gemini 9A after the original...
Apollo 10 took "Stranger on the Shore" on their mission to the moon. GeneCernan, a member of the crew, included the tune on a cassette tape used in the...
Armstrong Charles Bassett Alan Bean Vance D. Brand Gerald P. Carr Eugene Cernan Roger B. Chaffee Walter Cunningham Charles Duke Donn F. Eisele Joseph Engle...
Astronaut Office, so the CMP, John Young, stepped up to replace him as CDR; GeneCernan remained Lunar Module pilot (LMP), and Jack Swigert, a command module...
three of the men who flew to the Moon twice-Jim Lovell, John Young and GeneCernan-were Gemini veterans. With the exception of Elliot See, every member...
be less than 100 million years (Cretaceous or younger). Apollo 17's GeneCernan and Jack Schmitt did some of their geologic training here. Odessa Meteor...
after GeneCernan, and is therefore the 12th and most recent person to have stepped out onto the Moon. When they re-entered the lunar module Cernan stepped...
conspicuous than many other human-made objects. Veteran US astronaut GeneCernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 100 to 200 miles [160 to 320 km] high...
On the first day of the mission, GeneCernan erected it in Taurus–Littrow lunar valley. As he deployed it, Cernan said, "This was one of the proudest...
Global Information
