His first wife was Barbara Jean Atchley, a flight attendant for Continental Airlines, whom he married in 1961. Johnson Engineering provides NASA with Flight Crew Systems Development and has supported NASA in the design of crew stations for Space Shuttle, Spacelab, Space Station, Lunar Base and Mars Outpost, as well as the Weightless Environment Training Facility. During this time Cernan and Schmitt covered more than 35km (22mi) using the Lunar Roving Vehicle and spent a great deal of time collecting geologic samples (including a record 34 kilograms (75lb) of samples, the most of any Apollo mission) that would shed light on the Moon's early history. [7]:2931 Following flight training on the T-28 Trojan, T-33 Shooting Star, and F9F Panther, Cernan became a Naval Aviator, flying FJ-4 Fury and A-4 Skyhawk jets in Attack Squadrons 126 and 113. The story became immortalized in a hit a song by No More Kings, Tracys Song, as well as the 20th episode of third season of ABC Modern Family., The account of his journeywas told inseveral movies and documentaries, including the 2007 British documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, andDiscovery Channels 2008 docu-seriesWhen We Left Earth: The NASA Missions, narrated by Gary Sinise. Download. After getting back from Apollo 10, Cernan took a gamble. Eugene Cernan the last man to have left his footprints on the surface of the Moon was honored today in a touching funeral service at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. At 32, he was the youngest American to go into space. Mr. Cernan, who lived in Piney Point, a suburb of Houston, contributed to ABCs coverage of space-related news; narrated and was featured in documentaries; and wrote (with Don Davis) an autobiography, The Last Man on the Moon, published in 1999. His wife is Jan Nanna (1987 - 16 January2017)( his death)( 2 children), Barbara Jean Atchley (6 May1961 - 1981)( divorced)( 1 child). "There's no vibration. He was proud to be a Purdue engineer; we will miss him. She is flanked by friends, Father Eugene Cargill (L) and Al Bishop. As a result his autobiography is called "Last Man on the Moon". His father was of Slovak descent and his mother was of Czech ancestry. The flight ended after 72 hours and 20 minutes with a perfect re-entry and recovery -- Gemini IX landed within a mile and a half of the prime recovery ship USS WASP, and only three-eighths of a mile from the predetermined target!Cernan subsequently served as backup pilot for Gemini 12 and as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 7.On his second space flight, he was lunar module pilot of Apollo 10, May 18-26, 1969, the first comprehensive lunar-orbital qualification and verification flight test of an Apollo lunar module. As I step off at the surface of Taurus-Littrow, I'd like to dedicate the first steps of Apollo Seventeen to all those who made it possible. Before heading home, Cernan said he drew the letters "TDC" the initials of his then 9-year-old daughter, Teresa Dawn with his finger on the dusty gray lunar surface. As Cernan prepared to climb the ladder for the final time, he spoke these words, currently the last spoken by a human being standing on the lunar surface: Bob, this is Gene, and I'm on the surface; and, as I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to comebut we believe not too long into the futureI'd like to just (say) what I believe history will record: that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. [about the Apollo 17 launch being the first to occur at night] In order to get to where you want to land in December, and get the sun behind you at the proper angle when you land, it required us to launch at night. One daughter from first marriage, Teresa Dawn (. He later married Jan Nanna, who survives him, as do his daughter, Teresa Cernan Woolie; two stepdaughters, Kelly Nanna Taff and Danielle Nanna Ellis; nine grandchildren; and a sister, Dolores Riley. Johnson Engineering provides NASA with Flight Crew Systems Development and has supported NASA in the design of crew stations for Space Shuttle, Spacelab, Space Station, Lunar Base and Mars Outpost, as well as the Weightless Environment Training Facility.He was married to Barbara Jean Atchley from 1961-1981; their daughter, Teresa Dawn, was nicknamed Tracy. $19.99 + $4.99 shipping . In this capacity, he assisted in the planning, development, and evaluation of the joint United States/Soviet Union Apollo-Soyuz mission, and he acted for the program manager as the senior United States negotiator in direct discussions with the USSR on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.On July 1, 1976, Captain Cernan retired after over 20 years with the U.S. Navy. Captain Cernan donated to people: to thinkers, to doers, to Boilermakers. Cernan graduated from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1956 and was commissioned in the U.S. Navy . He turned down the assignment as backup crew of Apollo 13, knowing that from there, he would probably rotate to Apollo 16, giving him a "potential" opportunity to walk on the Moon. Crew member on Gemini 9 (1966), Apollo 10 (1969), and Apollo 17 (1972) missions. They remained friends. As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come - but we believe not too long into the future - I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will record - that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. 17K views 5 years ago Gene Cernan and his daughter reflect on their lives while he was an astronaut. [44] The true story of leaving the initials on the lunar surface was prominently mentioned in "The Last Walt", a 2012 episode of Modern Family. Details of hisdeath were not made public. But you can't.". Two stepdaughters from second marriage, Kelly & Danielle. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Cernan was awarded NASAs first Ambassador of Exploration Award, the Federal Aviation Administrations prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, and the 2007 Lindbergh Spirit Award (presented only every five years). But with budget constraints and other worlds beckoning, his lofty hopes for another generation to return have not been realized. [8] In 1981 and 1982, Cernan joined Frank Reynolds and Jules Bergman on the extensive ABC coverage of the first 3 Space Shuttle launches. (NASA/Reuters) Eugene Cernan, the last astronaut to . He also slid down a banister on a visit to the White House and once crashed a helicopter in the Atlantic while chasing a dolphin. He retired from NASA three years later. And the Earth is three-dimensional in this blackness; it's dynamic and alive. 6 comments. watches launch of Apollo-10 as daughter Teresa Dawn hides her face. He barely got back in the spacecraft.". "In that whole three days, I don't think there's anything that became routine,"Cernanrecalled. The trip back to Earth and the splashdown in the South Pacific, on Dec. 19, 1972, went like clockwork. Former astronaut Gene Cernan, the last of only a dozen men to walk on the moon who returned to Earth with a message of "peace and hope for all mankind," has died. [27] His funeral was held at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston. In accomplishing all of the assigned objectives of this mission, Apollo 10 confirmed the operations performance, stability, and reliability of the command/service module and lunar module configuration during trans-lunar coast, lunar orbit insertion, and lunar module separation and descent to within 8 nautical miles of the lunar surface. He graduated from Proviso Township High School in Maywood, Ill., and received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1956. "Although Gene Cernan is most often described as 'the last man to walk on the moon,' it is most appropriate for us to remember that he insisted on 'most recent.'" Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. But as the years went by he realized he wouldn't live to witness someone follow in his footsteps still visible on the moon more than 40 years later. As Gene Cernan finished his 1972 Apollo 17 moonwalk, he dropped to one knee and wrote "TDC" the initials of his then-9-year-old-daughter, Tracy Dawn Cernan in the moondust and set his . Moonwalker (Apollo 17, December 1972). He received an electrical engineering degree from Purdue University in Indiana in 1956, became a naval aviator and flew carrier-borne attack jets. "I can always walk on Main Street again, but I can never return to my Valley of Taurus-Littrow, and that cold fact has left me with a yearning restlessness," he wrote in his 1999 autobiography, also entitled "The Last Man on the Moon. And then you get to the Moon, and all of a sudden, for the first time, you're standing on something that is not Earth. ENLARGE. You find the Earth is revolving, very mysteriously and yet very majestically, on an axis you can't see. Cernan was selected for the lunar module pilot position on the backup crew for Apollo 7although that flight carried no lunar module. Eugene Cernan, who commanded the NASA Apollo 17 mission, died on Monday in Houston. It's a totally different world. He entered flight training upon graduation. In 1987, he married again, to Jan Nanna, and they lived in Houston. More about Eugene Cernan edit Dating History Grid List Table # 3 Jan Cernan 5 0 1986 Eugene Andrew Cernan was born in Chicago on March 14, 1934, to Andrew Cernan, a supervisor at a naval installation, and the former Rose Cihlar. "Enriched by a singular event that is larger than life, I no longer have the luxury of being ordinary.". You can climb the highest mountain of this planet of ours, or swim to the depths of the deepest ocean, and you're still on planet Earth. The others are. [8], Cernan was originally selected with Thomas Stafford as backup pilot for Gemini 9. He also earned an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Western State University College of Law in 1969, an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Purdue University in 1970, and other honors from other universities. In 1963, he was selected byNASA for its third group of astronauts, eventually retiring in 1976. Evans remained behind as pilot of the command module that orbited the moon while the other two landed on the moon's surface. In addition to his stepchildren, he had two grandchildren. James Lovell and John Young are the others. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he remains as of 2023, famously: "The last man on the Moon". Two stepdaughters from second marriage, Kelly & Danielle. This provided NASA planners with critical knowledge of technical systems and lunar gravitational conditions to enable Apollo 11 to land on the Moon two months later. As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come - but we believe not too long into the future - I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will record - that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. 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