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from the May-the-spirit-of-peace-in-which-we-came-be-reflected-in-the-lives-of-all-mankind dept.
Former astronaut Gene Cernan, the last person to walk on the moon who returned to Earth with a message of "peace and hope for all mankind," died on Monday in Texas following ongoing heath issues, his family said. He was 82.
Cernan was with his relatives when he died at a Houston hospital, family spokeswoman Melissa Wren told The Associated Press. His family said his devotion to lunar exploration never waned.
"Even at the age of 82, Gene was passionate about sharing his desire to see the continued human exploration of space and encouraged our nation's leaders and young people to not let him remain the last man to walk on the Moon," his family said in a statement released by NASA.
Cernan was commander of NASA's Apollo 17 mission and on his third space flight when he set foot on the lunar surface in December 1972. He became the last of only a dozen men to walk on the moon on Dec. 14, 1972 — tracing his only child's initials in the dust before climbing the ladder of the lunar module the last time. It was a moment that forever defined him in both the public eye and his own.
"Those steps up that ladder, they were tough to make," Cernan recalled in a 2007 oral history. "I didn't want to go up. I wanted to stay a while."
Source: ABCNews
(Score: 2) by hellcat on Wednesday January 18 2017, @03:05AM
I was here - an ancient 12 year old at the time.
A previous comment was made about how quickly people went "meh" towards the moon. It's a good indication of how curious and appreciative our 1970s society was towards leading edge technology, and the infinite promise of the future.
My feeling is that today's society is even less curious, less appreciative. Gong to Mars? Living on Luna? Ho hum. Back to binge watching.
I grew up thinking we'd be living on the moon by now. I'm fairly sure we're going to be lucky if the Chinese can even get people up there. But I'm betting against it.