Gene Cernan, last man on the moon, born 1934

Eugene "Gene" Cernan, born March 14, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, was the last man to walk on the moon.  He made two trips to the moon on separate occasions, the first in Apollo 10 and the second in Apollo 17. 

His first mission in space was on Gemini IX with Tom Stafford in June 1966.  They were selected as the backup crew but the primary crew (Elliot See and Charles Bassett) was killed in a crash on February 28, 1966.  Cernan and Stafford performed rendezvous procedures that would be used on Apollo 10.

He and Stafford went into space on Apollo 10 in May 1969 on what would be the final "dress rehearsal" for the moon landing, which Apollo 11 accomplished two months later.

His final flight was as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972. It was the last mission of the Apollo program.  He and Harrison Schmitt performed three EVAs for about 22 hours.  He was the last man to climb up the ladder into the Lunar lander.

Cernan published his memoir The Last Man on the Moon in 1999.

He passed away in January 2017 at 82 years old.

Happy birthday, Oklahoma astronaut Tom Stafford!

Thomas "Tom" Stafford, born September 17, 1930 in Weatherford, Oklahoma, is an astronaut who has flown in two Gemini missions, Apollo 10 and an Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.  He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland before being accepted by NASA to be an astronaut September 17, 1962.

What a birthday present!

In December 1965, he piloted Gemini VI which performed the first rendezvous in space with Wally Schirra.  Less than six months later, he commanded Gemini IX with Eugene Cernan in  June 1966.

He commanded Apollo 10 in May 1969 with Eugene Cernan and John Young to the moon.  It was considered a 'dry run' for the first lunar landing.

In 1975, he commanded the Apollo spaceship with Vance Brand and Deke Slayton the first rendezvous with the Soviet Soyuz, a milestone in space history.