
Gene Cernan has died - cletusw
https://www.nasa.gov/astronautprofiles/cernan
======
sizzzzlerz
Of the 12 men who walked on the moon, six are still alive, the youngest,
Charlie Duke is 81. Aldrin, the oldest, is 86. Its becoming less and less
likely we'll have someone back on the moon before these men are gone. That is
a goddamn tragedy.

~~~
dragonwriter
On the scale of tragedies that are currently occurring or for which there is a
significant threat of occurring in the near future, the possibility that there
might be a period of time with no living humans who have walked on the moon is
so trivial as to trivialize the entire concept of "tragedy" by using that term
to describe it.

~~~
etangent
> On the scale of tragedies that are currently occurring or for which there is
> a significant threat of occurring in the near future, the possibility that
> there might be a period of time with no living humans who have walked on the
> moon is so trivial

No. There is an argument to be made that in the absence of drama occurring up
there (space, theistic mythology, etc), people will invent and create drama
down here (Earth), except with more dire consequences. Considering alternative
timelines, therefore, there is a decent chance that there is a real, though
indirect, human cost associated with choosing not to explore. What is the
human cost, for example, of boys and girls not being inspired by daring feats
accomplished at the edge of possible? Nobody is quantifying it, no research
grants are given to study it, but I have almost no doubt that it exists.

~~~
erelde
Isn't that idea also in Asimov's The End of Eternity?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Eternity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Eternity)

In this book humans have at some point invented time travel. Subsequently an
organization ('Eternity') is born out of it to regulate and protect humans
accross centuries. But, because of it, Humanity never left Earth. The main
protagonist stops time travel from being invented and kickstarts the nuclear
age, this is supposed to start robots and later Foundation.

At least that's what I remember, I tried to summarize without reading
Wikipedia for a change.

The key of the story is that either humans invent space travel and have a
chance to thrive, or stay on Earth and are guaranteed to become extinct.

~~~
etangent
That's one of my favorite sci-fi novels and it's eerily ahead of its time IMO.
Among many difficult questions, it also deals with

"is it good for humankind to be ruled by an invisible technocratic elite?"

"are we unknowingly increasing long-term existential risk by concerning
ourselves first with short-term safety?"

~~~
erelde
And then what's "good" in relation to "what's good for humankind", what's
"humankind". Same process for the second sentence.

I think in some defintion I could argue either side of the Eternity.

------
coldcode
The guts these folks had to fly such tiny primitive compared-to-today
spaceships is still amazing to me. Sadly back then I always thought I'd be
able to walk on the moon in my lifetime but clearly that will not happen. I
still think watching a Saturn V launch was more impressive than the Space
Shuttle was.

~~~
Aloha
I've read enough about space technology to have a bit of disbelief in your
statement.

The technology to launch someone skyward is basically identical, the
technology in the craft, while benefited by more modern computing (as well as
enhanced material science), also largely identical.

~~~
hoorayimhelping
> _The technology to launch someone skyward is basically identical, the
> technology in the craft, while benefited by more modern computing (as well
> as enhanced material science), also largely identical._

I really don't get your statement. The Saturn V is the most powerful machine
humans have ever made. No rocket has since come anywhere close to it, despite
the benefits of modern computing and material science. The Space Shuttle
program killed 14 astronauts, in spite of the more modern technology and the
huge steps that were taken in the decades prior.

The Saturn V sent 24 men to the moon, and launched America's first space
station with technology built by people using slide rules. 13 successful
launches without casualties - indeed it handled situations like lightning
strikes and violent POGO oscillations. It's the only machine that has ever
taken humans past LEO.

~~~
eltoozero
True enough, and new info to me!

Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful (highest total
impulse) rocket ever brought to operational status, and holds records for the
heaviest payload launched and largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit
(LEO) of 140,000 kg (310,000 lb).

To date, the Saturn V remains the only launch vehicle to launch missions to
carry humans beyond low Earth orbit. A total of 15 flight-capable vehicles
were built, but only 13 were flown. An additional three vehicles were built
for ground testing purposes. [0]

So why _aren 't_ we just building more of these damn things and iterating on
the (proven!) design? While we're at it let's un-mothball the SR-71 and those
wicked Buick start carts! [1]

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V)
[1]:
[http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/startercart.php](http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/startercart.php)

~~~
Aloha
I'd have to dig around to find the source - but honestly, its because we dont
have good drawings, or even partially complete understanding on how to build
the pieces. The Saturn V was not mass produced, and was built on something
less then an assembly line - it was semi-bespoke basically.

~~~
Gracana
On a related note, ars technica has an absolutely fantastic article on reverse
engineering and re-building the Saturn V.

[http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/how-nasa-brought-
the-...](http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/how-nasa-brought-the-
monstrous-f-1-moon-rocket-back-to-life/)

------
kumarski
Gene was a boss.

He used to walk into my sister-in-law's restaurant when I was a kid. Great
person and welcoming smile. Sad to see the pioneer disapear.

When we walked out, my father told me "that was greatness, don't forget it." I
didn't understand it till years later.

I think there's something surreal about the astronauts, not an ounce of
negativity out of them toward other humans. Wish I had talked to him then.

------
paul
Just two days ago I watched "The Last Man on the Moon" with my son (on
Netflix). Good documentary, but sad to see him pass. Those Apollo astronauts
were truly remarkable people.

~~~
Herodotus38
I highly and frequently recommend "For All Mankind" as another great
documentary if you haven't already seen it.

~~~
andyjohnson0
I second your recommendation - a great film. The Saturn V launch sequence is
always extremely impressive.

I'd also recommend "In the Shadow of the Moon" [1], which focuses on the more
recent recollections of the Apollo astronauts, including Gene Cernan.

[1]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/)

------
roryisok
In case the headline in the article confuses anyone, there still are living
people who walked on the moon (for instance Buzz Aldrin), but Gene Cernan was
the _most recent_ person to do so, having been on the final Apollo mission.
Nobody has walked on the moon since

~~~
rwmj
Also Apollos 15-17 were much more awesome missions than the earlier ones. If
you had the choice of being the first man to walk on the moon for just over an
hour, or the last man to walk on the moon _for three days and nights with a
car and a real life geologist to explain the sights_ , I'd take the latter.

~~~
roryisok
wow _three days!_ I did not know that.

------
csours
Gene Cernan flew on Apollo 10, the "dress rehearsal" for Apollo 11 (the first
mission to land on the moon).

The command module for Apollo 10 was named "Charlie Brown" [0] who
continuously had the football yanked before he could kick it[1]. A little joke
from NASA, I think.

0:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_10#Mission_parameters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_10#Mission_parameters)

1:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=charlie+brown+football+yank](https://www.google.com/search?q=charlie+brown+football+yank)

------
ColinWright
I never got the chance to meet Gene Cernan, but I spent some time chatting
with Gen Tom Stafford, and part of that covered Gemini IX which they flew
together. Stafford was the consummate gentleman and never said anything
negative about anyone, but it was clear that he had tremendous respect and no
little affection for Cernan.

Another loss.

------
owenversteeg
I see nobody has mentioned my favorite fact about him: while the rovers were
designed to have a top speed of 8mph, Gene Cernan pushed his to 11.2 mph, more
than a 40% increase of the maximum speed.

If 11.2 mph sounds slow to you, he also set another speed record: highest
speed attained by any manned vehicle, 24,791 mph or almost 40,000 kilometers
per hour, on Apollo 10's return to Earth.

Also, prior missions didn't go more than 3 miles from the LM, but Cernan
pushed his to go five miles away. This meant that if the rover failed -
remember, this thing had driven on the moon exactly twice at this point - he
would have had to walk five miles to the LM in a bulky, heavy spacesuit, in
unforgiving conditions on the surface of the Moon.

------
blizkreeg
Honest question: what is the incentive/motive to go back to the moon now? Part
of the motive for the Apollo missions was initial exploration. What is the
motive now? We've already proven that we can do it.

Does a moon base help? And if it's mining for minerals, is it economically a
viable plan?

~~~
david-given
Science, exploration, and personal satisfaction. Don't underestimate that
last; frontier exploration is a massive part of many of our cultures, but the
painful truth is that there aren't any left on Earth. Everything's owned by
somebody. Moving into space could have an almost religious impact down here.

The science is mostly geology and astronomy --- the moon is a great place for
observatories --- but mainly it's engineering and life sciences; the moon
makes a great place to learn about how to solve the kinds of problems that you
have to solve when living somewhere like the moon. Which sounds tautological,
but it's all stuff that we have no idea about and the moon, being on Earth's
doorstep, as a good place to start.

Much further down the line, mineral exploitation. Trying to establish a proper
presence in space by hauling everything out of Earth's gravity well is
ludicrous, and the moon's the obvious place to go for resources. But that's
_much_ further down the line; we need to have people living on a regular basis
on the moon first. Even learning how to do simple things like refining metal
there is going to be hard. (See above, under 'engineering'.)

~~~
funkymike
The sea is still a frontier. There is a lot about the oceans that we still do
not understand.

~~~
simonh
I don't see how the existence of one frontier of exploration precludes
pursuing other frontiers of exploration. Has there ever been a period in which
humanity chose to dedicate itself to one particular field of endeavor at the
exclusion of others? If that's not what you're suggesting, what exactly is
this comment supposed to mean?

~~~
funkymike
I was responding to the idea that there are no more frontiers on earth left to
explore. "frontier exploration is a massive part of many of our cultures, but
the painful truth is that there aren't any left on Earth."

------
Rooster61
Godspeed Gene. I hope another generation soon has the fortitude to put forth
the effort you and everyone else did to make Apollo happen.

It's a shame to see the mantle of the last man on the moon not be passed on
before he passed on himself.

------
ComputerGuru
His words as he left the moon for the last time:

 _" We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return with peace and
hope for all mankind."_

Amen. Some day.

------
xxr
What really gets me is how modern and futuristic the gear in the two photos of
Cernan looks--although unfortunately we haven't had any contemporary lunar
history to make anything from Apollo look old-fashioned (except for maybe the
computers).

~~~
rubidium
"It's almost as if JFK reached out into the twenty-first century where we are
today, grabbed hold of a decade of time, slipped it neatly into the (nineteen)
sixties and seventies (and) called it Apollo." \- Cernan

That quote stood out to me.

------
pjmorris
Godspeed, Mr. Cernan.

During a recent winter storm, we started re-watching 'From The Earth To The
Moon', the HBO mini-series on the Apollo program. Highly recommended.

------
regandersong
A week ago I found [http://apollo17.org/](http://apollo17.org/) which has an
amazing presentation of the photos, videos, and audio that came out of the
Apollo 17 mission.

Gene seemed like a really fun guy to go to the moon with.

~~~
ConroyBumpus
There's also some really great material at the JSC Oral History project:

[https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_histori...](https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_histories.htm)

------
gk1
> The mission included a descent to within eight nautical miles of the moon's
> surface.

Nautical miles are used in navigation to account for the extra distance
created by the earth's curvature. Why would it be used for distance
measurements in space?

~~~
hodgesrm
Huh? Nautical miles are a fixed unit of measurement equivalent to 1852 meters
today but originally defined as a minute of latitude. They are still commonly
used for distances, e.g., range of a Boeing 777 as reported in Wikipedia. [1,
2] They are a logical unit to use for flight to the moon.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777#Specifications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777#Specifications)

------
edgarlove
50 years ago we went to the moon. Incredible to contemplate!

------
jxy
R.I.P. The XKCD (893) truly nailed it.

And, NASA made a typo.

    
    
       > He went into private business and served as television
       > commentator for early fights of the space shuttle.

~~~
dorfsmay
I noticed the typo too, emailed the author and he has fixed it now.

