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Gene Cernan was the "last man on the moon"- at least in the 20th century, as commander of Apollo 17 in 1972. He also made two other flights, Gemini 9 in 1966 when he made the second American spacewalk and Apollo 10, the moonlanding "dress rehersal" in May, 1969. Cernan (b.1934) is from the Chicago area, and graduated from Purdue University ("Astronaut U.") in 1956, a year after classmate Neil Armstrong, 6 years after alumnus Gus Grissom. He has written (with Don Davis) "The Last Man on the Moon," his autobiography, a riveting account considered to be one of the best of the astronaut memoirs. He currently lives in Houston and has a beloved ranch in the Texas hill country. He still flies his two-engine Cessna. |