“Who?” you may ask. Gene Cernan’s claim to fame is that he was the last man ever to walk on the moon, with Apollo 17 (and I think also the youngest on Apollo 10?). He was also one of just three people to fly to the moon twice (one of the others is Jim Lovell of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, can’t remember the other). He died yesterday aged 82.

NASA have a tribute up on their site (oddly dated the day before he died; time zones?)
https://www.nasa.gov/astronautprofiles/cernan

And some footage here.

John Young was the third, flew on the same early circum-lunar mission as Lovell and then commanded 16.

Cernan is a sad loss, he was a forceful and lucid advocate for manned space exploration, especially as he’d done it so successfully. Now it’s all up to Buzz, crazy old coot that he is! They were an extraordinary bunch of people.

Dang.

Now it’s all up to Buzz, crazy old coot that he is!

There’s more than that isn’t there? I thought there were more alive than dead still, from Apollo at least? (Yes yes, JFGI I know.)

Today I have mostly been listening to PSB’s The Race for Space

The film Moonwalk One details the moon landings with original footage.
Stunning.

I think about half are still around but most keep a low profile – they’re old men after all! With Glenn and Cernan gone, I think Buzz is the only one still shooting from the lip

RIP. Saw an interview with him today where he spoke of the feeling of looking back at the earth and wanting to “put it in his pocket” so he could share it with everyone back home. Veru cool. He looked very well too, he obviously aged gracefully and looked after himself. True heros these guys, when you look at the tech by today’s standards it’s pretty scary.

I remember Cernan initially from the Gemini missions.

I’ve really enjoyed the series on Quest (assume it was on Discovery originally) on Moon Machines. Brilliant problem solving against tight deadlines doing stuff no one had done before. Really modest people as well.

And not Apollo but https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O30HFJC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 is well worth a read. Goes into the detail about how the space programme recruited its astronauts and the development/first flights of the shuttle which again shows how smart and committed were NASA and the JPL.

I won’t ruin it but the narrative of the first glide off the back of the 747 when it went a bit wrong is amazing. Fred Hayes (also Apollo 13) is the pilot. In fact I might go off and read it again.

It’s a real loss of a generation. Amazing characters and brave as hell.

Such a shame we are moving to a time where the astronauts who walked on the moon are almost gone before we have taken the next step forwards.

It’s a real loss of a generation. Amazing characters and brave as hell.

Such a shame we are moving to a time where the astronauts who walked on the moon are almost gone before we have taken the next step forwards
This ^
One of the very, very few occasions where I can say exactly where I was when it happened, was the first lunar landing, 20/21 July, 1969, as I was on holiday in South Devon, and I never actually saw it because the only TV’s available was in the bar of the caravan site social centre, and I wasn’t old enough to go in, and it was my birthday on the 21st.
Brave men who genuinely deserve the term ‘hero’.
RIP Gene Cernan, who came closer than most to reaching the stars.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It4WxQ6dnn0[/video]

For All Mankind is a good film also and nice soundtrack.

Sad really that they did all that for all mankind and then largely forgotten about.

Last man on the moon and probably still will be for some time yet.

RIP.

I’ve really enjoyed the series on Quest (assume it was on Discovery originally) on Moon Machines. Brilliant problem solving against tight deadlines doing stuff no one had done before. Really modest people as well.

Thanks for that. Further reading / viewing.

Amazing characters and brave as hell.

Yup. I’ve seen the tech they went up with and it staggers me that none of them went, “bugger that.”

Last Man On The Moon (essentially Cernan’s astronaut biog) is on Netflix. I’m also due a rerun of Film 4’s superb In The Shadow Of The Moon in which Cernan features heavily. I saw Jim Lovell speak once and I was utterly captivated. I would’ve loved to see Gene.

“bugger that.”

and then ran away screaming ‘we’re al going to die’ 🙂

One of the moon machine episodes covers the ‘software’ dev which was entirely new. Software that is, not development and how IBM (I think) came in to boot all the stoners at CalTech or Berkeley up the arse as they were so far behind. He developed the first interrupt driven code which gave priority to the most important systems. Which is why when the ground radar failed on the actual first moon landing, they still managed to get it down right side up.

There’s also a segment where the guy who developed the guidance is still holding a bit of a grudge that NASA took the decision to run all the very complex guidance from earth rather than using the code he’d built 😉

It’s sad to think not only are the astronauts passing away, but now anyone who even saw the moon landings or moon walks live on TV is now in their mid 40s. Gives me a strange feeling that the human race is not progressing at this time.
RIP Eugene Cernan

when you look at the tech by today’s standards it’s pretty scary.

I read somewhere that an old 386 PC had more computing power than the whole of mission control on the day; and a 386 has a fraction of the power of even the most rubbish smartphone.

Balls of steel, all of them.

Talking of the software. Someone transcribed the printouts of the Apollo 11 CM and LM code and shoved it on GitHub…

https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11

anyone who even saw the moon landings or moon walks live on TV is now in their mid 40s

Later than that. The first moon landing was in 1969, I’m mid 40s and was born three years later.

I stayed all night to watch the first one live. I was 15, now 63.

Cougar – Moderator 
Later than that. The first moon landing was in 1969, I’m mid 40s and was born three years later.

Four for me, so missed the last manned moon landing too. Not that I’d remember it. Barely remember watching Star Wars on its release! (at age of 4)

Excuse the slightly convoluted link here. Chap at work has mate who on a bit of a whim started collecting a few bits on Apollo memorabilia. He came to the office and did a talk about what he had obtained and his research into it. He had one of the cards filled in by Cernan and Schmidt logging their moon rock samples and had tracked down the audio of then discussing it and filling the card in. Could have been a dull presentation but presented to be absolutely fascinating. Heck the card was grubby which meant it had moon dust on it! A truly remarkable period with remarkable men and woman making it happen.

Watched Last Man On The Moon only a few weeks ago – really good watch!
Watched all the moon landings, fascinating time. Great guy.

Bookmarked

mookbark