Gene Cernan
The last person to walk on the Moon as of 2026.
Eugene Andrew Cernan (March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. He traveled into space three times and to the Moon twice: as pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966, as Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969, and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972, the final Apollo lunar landing. During the Apollo 17 mission, he became the 11th person to walk on the Moon as well as the astronaut with the longest time spent walking on the Moon; he is also the last person to walk on the Moon as of 2026.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Eugene Andrew Cernan
- Born
- 14 March 1934
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
- Died
- 16 January 2017
- Place of death
- Houston, Texas, U.S.
- Resting place
- Texas State Cemetery
- Education
- Purdue University (BS), Naval Postgraduate School (MS)
- Children
- 1
Lore & Background
Cernan's path to the Moon began with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1956, followed by service as a naval aviator and fighter pilot. He earned a Master of Science in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1963. Selected by NASA in October 1963 as part of the third group of astronauts, he flew Gemini 9A in June 1966, performing the second American EVA and the third-ever spacewalk, though overexertion forced early termination. As Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 10 (May 18–26, 1969), he and Tom Stafford piloted the Lunar Module Snoopy to within 8.5 nautical miles of the lunar surface, executing every phase of a landing except final powered descent. Apollo 10 holds the record for the highest speed attained by any crewed vehicle at 39,897 km/h during its return from the Moon on May 26, 1969.
Reader's Guide
Cernan is one of only three astronauts to travel to the Moon twice, along with Jim Lovell and John Young. He is also one of only twelve people to have walked on the Moon, as well as the only person to have flown in two different Apollo Lunar Modules in space while not docked to the Apollo Command and Service Module, both times near the Moon. After retiring from the Navy in 1976 with the rank of captain, he went into private business, becoming Executive Vice President of Coral Petroleum Inc. before starting The Cernan Corporation in 1981. He contributed to ABC News and Good Morning America's segment "Breakthrough" from 1987. In 1999, with co-author Donald A. Davis, he published his memoir The Last Man on the Moon. He is featured in the 2007 documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, where he said, "truth needs no defense" and "nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the Moon away from me." Cernan and Neil Armstrong testified before U.S. Congress in 2010 in opposition to the cancellation of the Constellation program.
Did You Know?
- Cernan piloted the Lunar Roving Vehicle on Apollo 17 to a maximum speed of 11.2 mph (18.0 km/h), giving him the unofficial lunar land speed record.
- He and Harrison Schmitt collected a record 110.4 kg (243 lb) of geologic samples during Apollo 17, the most of any Apollo mission.
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