Gene Cernan ✝

Eugene Andrew Cernan (/ˈsɜːrnən/; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh person to walk on the Moon. Since he re-entered the lunar module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he was the last person to have walked on the Moon.\n', ' Cernan traveled into space three times; 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. Cernan was also a backup crew member of the Gemini 12, Apollo 7 and Apollo 14 space missions.\n', ' Cernan was born on March 14, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois; he was the son of Rose (née Cihlar) and Andrew Cernan. His father was of Slovak descent and his mother was of Czech ancestry. Cernan grew up in the Illinois towns Bellwood and Maywood. He was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of Second Class. After attending McKinley Elementary School in Bellwood and graduating from Proviso East High School in Maywood in 1952, he studied at Purdue University, where he became a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. After his sophomore year, he accepted a partial Navy ROTC scholarship that required him to serve aboard USS Roanoke between his junior and senior years. In 1956, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering; his final GPA was 5.1 out of 6.0.\n', '