One of my favorite astronauts of the Apollo program. He of the famous Saturn V night launch in December 1972. The man always expressed his feelings about it so well. He wrote "Last Man on The Moon" with Don Davis which I feel was one of the best books written about NASA and Apollo 17. Rest in Peace.
Cernan was one of the few astronauts who really opened up about his experience in a thoughtful way. He was often very emotional about it. And the toll the program took on his life and family. Many of the astronauts (including Cernan) were former fighter jocks and products of their generation. Stone faced, one or two sentence answers to questions. It's why I always found Cernan so refreshing. Buzz Aldrin has always talked about his Apollo experiences (both good and bad) in much the same way.
I've heard going into space can have profound effects on some astronauts. Seeing Earth from above, you realize how tiny we are in a seemingly endless universe. How we're one people on a small island in the sky.
Astronauts from the Apollo program have become like the great athletes whom you were too young to appreciate when they were in their prime, but whom your parents or grandparents would talk about from time to time.
If Cernan had played "Fourth Klingon" or had a line in a Star Wars toy commercial movie, this thread would have had at least a dozen replies from people mourning the death of their childhood. When Mercury Seven astronaut Scott Carpenter died a few years back, there was barely a notice given by sci-fi-crazed FSMers.
I watched the documentary "Last Man On The Moon" last night. It was quite moving, though I admit it purposely tugged at the heart strings. Cernan temped fate quite a bit. He had a failed spacewalk, his LEM spun out of control while orbiting the Moon, and he crashed a helicopter into the water right before the last Apollo crew were to be selected.
Gene Cernan spoke in 2009 at the LBJ Library about his life and Apollo 17. It was covered by C-SPAN. There's quite a bit of programming about other Apollo missions and their crews here for those interested. Just use the search engine. You'll find valuable programming you won't find anyplace else. Thank goodness for the wonderful C-SPAN and their vast archives.
He was a good friend of Don Rickles, and he was on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roast" when they roasted Rickles, who gratefully acknowledged him when he made his closing remarks (or was it insults?). R.I.P. Gene Cernan.
The Six Million Dollar Man always made me think of Gene Cernan, because in that fictional world, Steve Austin was often referred to as the last man to set foot on the moon. Steve had commanded the "in-universe" version of Apollo 17. This was set out in Martin Caidin's 1972 novel Cyborg and adhered to throughout the TV series.
I don't know if this fiction tended to over-write Cernan's place in history, or if people who cared would hear it on TV and become interested to look up who the real "last man" was.
Back in those days, if no one in your house had followed the Apollo program and saved press clippings, you'd pretty much have to go to the public library or a good bookstore to find anything on the subject. I of course had clippings and books galore on the space program, so it was never a problem for me.
"Last man on the moon" is a title, I think, will be proven incorrect by the future. Unless the human race comes to an end soon, the moon will see human activity again. I dare to wager that it'll before the end of this century. If for no other reason than that emerging powers want to show off.
Disco Stu wrote:I dare to wager that it'll before the end of this century.
"In the final decade of the 21st century men and women in rocket ships landed on the Moon. By 2200 A.D. they had reached the other planets of our Solar system. Almost at once there followed the discovery of hyperdrive through which the speed of light was first attained, and later greatly surpassed. And so at last Mankind began the conquest and colonization of deep space." —Prologue, Forbidden Planet (1956)
Forbidden Planet's timeline was very pessimistic. But then Sputnik hadn't been launched yet by the time of its release, let alone production. And I don't think it will take two centuries for manned ships to reach the other Solar planets.
We could return to the Moon today. We have the technology, but lack the impetus.
"Last man on the moon" is a title, I think, will be proven incorrect by the future. Unless the human race comes to an end soon, the moon will see human activity again. I dare to wager that it'll before the end of this century. If for no other reason than that emerging powers want to show off.
I've heard going into space can have profound effects on some astronauts. Seeing Earth from above, you realize how tiny we are in a seemingly endless universe. How we're one people on a small island in the sky.
"...Planet earth is blue....and there's nothing we can do...."
