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Eugene Cernan - last man on the Moon, God Speed.

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:23 am
by semisynthetic
Eugene Cernan, always an outspoken advocate for the continuance and gains made by the USA Space Program, and the last man to walk upon the Earth's Moon, has died at 82 years of age.

God Speed.

Re: Eugene Cernan - last man on the Moon, God Speed.

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:17 pm
by niamhm
God Speed indeed, quite a life. There`s a saying here when describing a blow hard ` If you say you`ve been to the moon, then he`s been twice`. Cernan one of the few that could actually say that truthfully.

Re: Eugene Cernan - last man on the Moon, God Speed.

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 4:34 am
by semisynthetic
If there was anyone who made it there and back that I ever felt a bit sorry for, it must be Buzz Aldrin. The man on the Moon after Neil Armstrong. It has often seemed he was NOT going to be forgotten just because he walked on the Moon's surface 2nd!

One astronaut is quoted saying that Buzz Aldrin "resents not being first on the moon more than he appreciates being second", and he has gone just about as far on Earth to get into the books. Being the oldest man at (86 years), to get to the South Pole.

But, they all had guts and I still admire them all - their faults, foibles, and egos. It was much more exciting "live" to hear that Saturn 5 Rocket rip through the atmosphere and see the relative delicacy of the Lunar Module land, and later, take off for Home. By the second Trip, the color Television cameras were in use, and the stark grey moon, Blackness of Space and "The Good Earth" - contrasted in bright blues and white was so Beautiful.

I don't feel sorry for Buzz anymore. His campaign to "be remembered" is a success I think. But I am saddened to see great men I looked up to as a kid being narrowed down in number by the Circumstances of Time. This last year or two in particular makes them all the more at the forefront of thought; so many men and women of such diverse talents and accomplishments, gone.