Gene Cernan | Universe Today

Written by Tega Jessa

Eugene "Gene" Cernan is a former Navy officer and NASA Astronaut. He served on three major manned space missions Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17. Gene Cernan was also the "last man on the moon" being the last astronaut to return to the luner lander after the completion of the Apollo 17 mission. What makes it interesting is that for many of the missions he was assigned to he was the back up crewman.

Gene Cernan was born in Chicago, Illinois on Mardch 14, 1934 to Parents of Slovak anc Czech decent. He made the most of his education finishing high school and attending Purdue University where he got his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He entered the Navy through the college ROTC program and went on to undergo further training as a pilot after graduating in 1952 He also went on to get his masters in engineering from the NAVY post graduate school. He eventually attained the rank of Navy captain before retiring.

In 1963 Gene Cernan was selected as one of 14 astronauts for the NASA program. His first mission was Gemini 9A where he served as pilot with crew mate Thomas Stafford. Captain Cernan and Stafford were actually the back up crew for the mission. The original crew was killed in a plane crash. The Gemini mission was plagued with several problems including a failed launch. In the end the launch went through and Captain Cernan became the second man to walk in space. Also the Gemini mission was the second major attempt at docking in space.

His next major mission was Apollo 10 were he served as command pilot. This mission would be his first trip to the moon. On this mission he orbited the moon as one the several mission before the first major moon landing. He go back to the moon on subsequent missions becoming one of the few men to visit the moon more than once and walk its surface twice.

Captain Cernan later concurrently retired from the Navy and NASA in 1976. As a pilot he helped to make major contributions to the space program. His missions helped to perfect docking and lunar travel. While he may not be as well known as the crew of Apollo 11 his efforts made many historic firsts in space exploration possible.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others on Universe Today that you will enjoy. There is a great article about the space race. There is also an interesting article on the Apollo program.

If you want to learn more about Gene Cernan and his career you can read his bio on the Johnson Space Center web site. You can also check out Nova's To the Moon page which has an interview Gene Cernan did for the documentary.

You can also check out Astronomy Cast. Episode 124 talks about early space capsules.

Filed under: Astronomy