Commander Of Apollo 17 Was The Last Man To Walk On The Moon

Another icon of the space program has Gone West.

Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan passed away Monday at the age of 82, according to a Tweet from NASA.

Apollo 17 was the last of the United States' lunar landing missions. When he stepped out of the "Challenger" lunar module, he became the 11th human to set foot on the moon. He was followed by lunar module pilot Jack Schmitt. Because he was the commander of the mission, he was last to return to the lander, and so became the last man to walk on the moon.

It was Cernan's second trip to the moon. He was the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 10 mission, and had been the pilot of the Gemini IX mission, according to NASA.

Captain Cernan was one of fourteen astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963. He logged 566 hours and 15 minutes in space-of which more than 73 hours were spent on the surface of the moon.

Cernan was awarded two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the JSC Superior Achievement Award, two Navy Distinguished Service Medals, the Navy Astronaut Wings, the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustees Award (1969), the Federation Aeronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal for 1972, the Cities of Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York Gold Medals, the VFW National Space Medal in 1973, Daughters of The American Revolution Medal of Honor, Induction into the U.S. Space Hall of Fame, the Challenger Center's "Salute to the U.S. Space Program" Honor, Slovak World Recognition Award and Slovak Presidential Medal of Honor.

Details of the cause of his death have not been released.

(NASA image)

FMI: www.nasa.gov