The Last Man On the Moon

Gene Cernan’s autobiography about his Naval service and then time working at NASA is sublime. The reader is privy to the inner workings of an incredibly ambitious guy. He’s chosen to be an astronaut right out of the fleet after two cruises flying Scooters (the A-4 attack bomber off of aircraft carriers). Cernan never went to test pilot school and yet he flew on Gemini, including a space walk, and then two Apollo flights, 10 & 17.Cernan is a fine writer. He pays attention to detail (Naval aviation trailing 101) and engages the reader in both the mechanics of space flight preparation and space flight itself but also the nuances of family life during these challenging years. Huge kudos to Cernan for the credit he gives to his wife Barbara (Mrs. Astronaut) and the incredible sacrifices she made during his time at NASA. Although the marriage ended after the space flight years, it’s clear that he admired and was grateful to Barbara for her support during such trying and tense times—scary space walk on Gemini, around the moon on 10 but no landing and the climax of Apollo 17 when her husband lived on and walked on the moon for three days. I hasten to add that Cernan’s consideration of his daughter, Tracy (Punk), was very touching, too.Details of Cernan’s flights and how he got each is fascinating. The competition between and among the astronauts was intense and Gene Cernan rose like cream to the top of the group, even though he was a third group candidate and not a qualified test pilot.The book has myriad details about the last Apollo trip to the moon. The selection of the crew, their preparation and training, the flight out and descent to the lunar surface, the days of exploration and the blast off of Challenger back to rendezvous with America and the return voyage home are all presented beautifully. There’s lots of humor, plenty of insights, a bunch of scary moments and events all leading up to the most successful lunar excursion of the Apollo program. All of this, in Gene Cernan’s voice and with his sensibilities about the entire adventure. A super good read!I met Gene Cernan at the Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola in 2011, the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation. You see, my grandfather was the 68the Naval aviator. I followed in his footsteps and was also a Naval aviator. Be that as it may, I had the chance to speak personally with both Neal Armstrong and Gene Cernan at that gathering. I showed each my grandfather’s wings of gold crafted at Tiffany’s with both his name and mine inscribed on the back. Both were impressed. I was touched that Gene congratulated my grandfather and me on our accomplishments. His humility and humanity glowed. What a lovely man, a terrific Naval aviator and an extraordinary astronaut. He died way to young but we can all be proud of what he did on this planet and on the moon.

The Last Man on the Moon is a great book. Decades ago, I read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. It was a good book about the Mercury astronauts and the test pilots that came before them. However, as I remember, it was a book about the glamour of it all. Gene Cernan’s book is more substantive to me. It has honesty. It tells you what actually happened, whether glamorous or not, whether presented on television or not. You learn about the astronaut families as well the astronauts. It presents the tragedies as well as the triumphs. It covers Gene Cernan’s life and notes the Mercury program but focuses more on the Gemini and Apollo programs.Some reviewers of this book feel that Gene Cernan was overly critical of Buzz Aldrin. I feel that this book presents both the good points as well as the bad points about Aldrin. I remember an HBO series about the astronauts, with actors portraying them. Tom Hanks was one of the producers of this series. In it, you see Buzz Aldrin campaigning to be the first man to walk on the moon. Eventually, the NASA managers tell him that the lunar module was being designed such that the commander (Neil Armstrong for Apollo 11) would be next to the hatch and would be the first person to walk on the moon. What Gene Cernan says about this is consistent with the HBO series.Gene Cernan evolved during his astronaut career. At first, he couldn’t accept that one of the men to walk on the moon was not a test pilot. Although Jack Schmitt learned to fly jets as part of his training, he was primarily a scientist. Over time, Gene came to respect Jack Schmitt and his work to become an astronaut. Gene grew to recognize the importance of science alongside exploration.I bought the Kindle version of this book a year or so ago when three Kindle books were being sold at a greatly reduced price. The book was written in the late 1990s. I was sad to learn that Eugene Cernan died in 2017. He had a great life — a great career and a great family. He had three daughters and many grandchildren. I plan to read some more astronaut autobiographies as well as the authorized biography of Neil Armstrong. I can only hope that they are as good as The Last Man on the Moon.