Remembering Eugene Cernan: Facts about retired U.S. astronaut

This December 13 1972 image courtesy of NASA shows Astronaut Eugene A Cernan mission commander walking toward the Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV during extravehicular activity EVA at the TaurusLittrow landing site of NASAs sixth and final Apollo lunar landing mission PicAFPEugene A Cernan the commander of the Apollo 17 lunarlanding mission in 1972 and the last man to walk on the moon died in Houston on January 17 Here are some facts about the retired US astronautgtgt Cernan was born in Chicago Illinois on March 14 1934 He was one of 14 astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963 for the Apollo programme created to send humans to the moongtgt Cernan also participated in Gemini missions NASAs second human spaceflight programme developed to support subsequent Apollo missionsgtgt On his first space flight Cernan became the second American to walk in space during the Gemini IX mission in 1966 led by command pilot Thomas StaffordGene Cernangtgt On his second sojourn in May 1969 he was pilot of Apollo 10s lunar module the first comprehensive lunarorbital qualification and verification flight test of an Apollo lunar modulegtgt Cernan was the third person to walk in space following Russian Alexei Leonov and American Ed White Cernan spent two hours and seven minutes outside the Gemini 9 spacecraft on the 1966 mission but had to come in early because his helmet visor was fogging up due to exertion Because the spacewalk was shortened Cernan did not have a chance to test a new jetpack He recalled the incident in his memoir in a chapter titled The Spacewalk From Hellgtgt Cernan holds the moons speed record having driven the lunar rover at 112 miles per hour 18 km per hour on a downhill rungtgtHe almost missed out on Apollo 17 because he severely strained a tendon in his leg playing softball with NASA personnel two months before the launch He used crutches for a week and willed himself not to limp so NASA officials would not pull him from the mission but said walking on the moon was painfulgtgt Security at Cape Kennedy had to be increased for Apollo 17 because of the threat of attack from Black September the Palestinian group that had killed 11 Israelis at the Summer Olympics in Munich three months earlier Officials also were concerned about the astronauts families so authorities followed their childrens school buses and federal agents kept an eye on their classroomsgtgt Less than two weeks after returning from the moon Cernan and crew mate Ron Evans went to Bimini in the Bahamas for New Years as the guests of the chief executive of Rockwell International Cernan said the executive was an old friend but there were conflict of interest concerns in Washington because Rockwell manufactured modules for NASA spacecraft Cernan was given a letter of reprimand from the agencygtgt The 1972 last mission to the moon established several firsts for manned spaceflight including longest manned lunar landing flight 301 hours 51 minutes longest lunar surface extravehicular activities 22 hours 6 minutes largest lunar sample return an estimated 115 kg 249 lbs and longest time in lunar orbit 147 hours 48 minutesgtgt Cernan retired from the Navy after 20 years in 1976 and ended his NASA career He went into private business and served as television commentator for early fights of the space shuttlegtgt Cernan met Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the moon at Purdue University where they studied in the 1950swith inputs from agencies