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Gene Cernan - Last Man on the Moon. R.I.P.


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Yep, I just saw that, very sad.  I had the opportunity to listen to him speak on panels a few times at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, and even had the chance to meet him briefly.  He was always interesting to listen to, and was very straightforward in what he said.  He will be missed.

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Thanx for posting this ... I'm stunned.

 

Being primarily a Real Space modeller, I've done his Gemini mission, a model of Cernan on the Moon and am in the process of completing Apollo 17 hardware. 

An amazing Test Pilot, a real risk-taker and outspoken and articulate. I loved this about him.

 

I read about them and their missions and relive those historic events while building the models that I keep forgetting that all these amazing individuals are all in their mid or late 80's .......... man ... !

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I met Gene Cernan at the 20th reunion of the Apollo 11 moon landing at Houston. My dad worked on the Lunar Module for Apollo's 9...10 and 11. Got his autograph...framed it with his 3 mission patches and a set of Navy astronaut wings. Great loss today....Rode 2 Saturn V's into space and a Titan II...Last man to walk on the moon. Aviation and space hero...will be missed. :salute:

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He was always an energetic, seemingly tireless, and enthusiastic guest lecturer and presenter on the space program and space exploration. A fantastic ambassador. He will be missed.

 

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10 hours ago, aircommando130 said:

I met Gene Cernan at the 20th reunion of the Apollo 11 moon landing at Houston. My dad worked on the Lunar Module for Apollo's 9...10 and 11. Got his autograph...framed it with his 3 mission patches and a set of Navy astronaut wings. Great loss today....Rode 2 Saturn V's into space and a Titan II...Last man to walk on the moon. Aviation and space hero...will be missed. :salute:

You are a very lucky person. Many of us here would love to have met Mr. Cernan or any of the NASA astronauts ( Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle). Oh yeah and even the Cosmonauts, notably of the great era of the Space Race. I'd love to meet Alexi Leonov as much as any NASA astronaut.

Edited by Gordon Shumway
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I was very lucky to be at the right place at the right time with my dad being stationed at Edwards and then going on to NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. I have 8 of the 12 who walked on the moon and 4 of the original 7 autographs. Some of them also flew in Gemini....a great time in American space and aviation history.

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I was eight when Neil and Buzz walked on the moon with Michael orbiting above.  The nation, the WORLD was all a twitter about it.  As the years went by, Apollo 13 happened and America went about its business.  By Apollo 17, nobody was interested; Barely a blip on the media's radar and that made me angry.  I was a seasoned young man of eleven then and devoured the National Geographic issues that still covered the Apollo program.  The Lunar Rover was fascinating and the Moon geology was as well. 

 

Those were some heady days for a kid fascinated with everything aeronautical and space machinery.  To this day it's still incredibly intricate and detailed information that I've studied from my lay-person's easy chair to fathom how 400,000 people participated in making the largest flying machine ever get there and back.  I would recommend the DVD "Moon Machines" which has six hours of presentation on each element of the program from the Saturn V to the Lunar Module and more. I often watch it and learn more each time. 

 

As we lose these extraordinary, mighty men, and in my (older) age, I am reminded of those who gave all and that the memory of these events are now part of the history of humanity.  I am so grateful to have been alive to see it all. 

Edited by VADM Fangschleister
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