back to article RIP Eugene Cernan: Last man on the Moon dies aged 82

Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave footprints on the Moon, has died aged 82. One of 14 astronauts chosen by NASA in 1963, Cernan's space career included two trips to the Moon (the second as commander of Apollo 17), and the second spacewalk by a United States astronaut. His two-hour spacewalk took place during the three-day …

  1. Youngone Silver badge

    Sad

    I'm sad that the last man to walk on the moon did so 44 years ago.

    1. Tom 64
      Pint

      Re: Sad

      At least he did not go quietly into the night!

      For the night was full of radio banter.

      I lift a pint in salute.

      1. AMBxx Silver badge

        Re: Sad

        Even sadder that we've not been anywhere else. Imagine if in 1970, you told somebody that by 2017 we still wouldn't have landed on Mars. Plenty of pretty pictures, but no more human exploration.

  2. a_yank_lurker

    RIP

    To another unassuming hero, rest in peace with your comrade John Glenn.

  3. MrT

    Ex terra, per ardua, ad luna et astra. RIP.

  4. Oengus
    Pint

    The heroes of my youth

    And then there were 6... (half of the people to have walked on the moon have now passed away).

    It is saddening to see these people, who where our heroes when we were young, passing.

    I'll raise a glass to their memory.

    1. Mark 85
      Pint

      Re: The heroes of my youth

      Aye... well said... <raises glass>

    2. CheeseTriangles

      Re: The heroes of my youth

      Have an upvote from me, pity I can only give the one.

      RIP Eugene.

    3. Jedit Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: The heroes of my youth

      Thanks Oengus, I was going to ask how many of the lunar astronauts were left.

      1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

        Re: The heroes of my youth

        https://xkcd.com/893/

  5. unitron
    Headmaster

    Can we bring back "passes away"?

    "Passes" is somewhat ambiguous.

    Anybody who reaches 83 passes 82.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Can we bring back "passes away"?

      Upvoted, for pedantery above and beyond the call of duty in the face of death.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Can we bring back "passes away"?

      Can we just bring back "died"

      Means what it says.

  6. Lt.Kije

    You morons. Can we now not even depend on El Reg to tell it how it is?

    The man died.

    He didn't "pass". You think he is a turd or something. Get a grip lads

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. c-hri-s

      The way I read it the 'passes' was a comment from NASA (which makes sense as it's an Americanism).

      In the headline and the main body the word(s) "dies/has died" is used.

    3. FuzzyWuzzys

      It's called compassion

      My understanding is that it's short for "passing over" and as he's American and the US is quite a strongly Christian country, it's something they say out of habit. Even as a Brit I often say "passed on" as it's more comforting to close relatives of the deceased, especially to a work colleague for example, someone I don't know intimately. Personally when I talk about my own relatives I use the word "died" as I believe you live and then there's nothing more once your dead but I wouldn't wish to insult others by assuming they can handle such strong language at a time of personal loss.

      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
        Pint

        Re: It's called compassion

        Compassion may or may not enter into it - he's passed on. This astronaut is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. Soon, he'll be pushing up the daisies. His metabolic processes are now history. He's off the twig. He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-ASTRONAUT!

        Yes, it's sad. But he made it through a shedload of stuff that just as well might have killed him 50 or 60 years ago. He drove a smeggin' car on the smeggin' moon! He joined a very, very exclusive club and he put in the work to do it. He achieved a lot, and by all accounts he did it without turning into an asshole. He died an old man, after a long and interesting life, surrounded by family and friends. Trust me, this is as good as it gets. I raise my glass to salute him.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It's called compassion

        "it's more comforting to close relatives of the deceased"

        No it's not. You only think it is comforting, and it's not "strong" language, it's perfectly normal language - where I come from anyway.

        When I die I shall be dead, and no amount of euphemistic language will change that.

  7. Unicornpiss
    Unhappy

    Sad indeed

    I'm sad about the death of a good, humble, brave man, but will be much sadder if the remaining 7 humans to walk on the moon pass away before we manage to return to it. It's like we're living one of the science fiction novels where humanity has lost the ability and the drive to achieve the great wonders of a past golden age.

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: Sad indeed ("7")

      "...the remaining 7 humans..."

      Six. 12 - 6 = 6.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apollo_astronauts

    2. Tom Paine

      Re: Sad indeed

      In the words of the man in the black mask, "Get used to disappointment." Never gonna happen, I'd put money on it (well, it'd have to be "in my lifetime" to make sense I suppose, unless I bequeathed the wager, yea, even unto the fifth generation.)

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Sad indeed

        "In the words of the man in the black mask,"

        I never realised that the Lone Ranger was so profound! Or did you mean Zorro?

  8. Winkypop Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Vale another of life's heroes

    Not passed.

    Lifted-off for places unknown.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I remember Apollo 17 returning to Earth when I was a kid.

    Jeez it has been a long time since we got people out of Earth's orbit.

    Nice flying, Gene!

  10. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    Hamba Kahle.

  11. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
    Unhappy

    RIP

    I was fortunate enough last year to have had the opportunity to see him premiere the documentary film about his life, The Last Man on the Moon. I can highly recommend it for its insight into the US manned space program and the man himself. I think I should watch it again tonight.

    1. MrT

      Re: RIP

      Brilliant documentary - just watching it now on Netflix...

  12. Potemkine Silver badge

    To boldly go where no one has gone before

    RIP Mr. Cernan, thank you for your efforts in an adventure which helped mankind to progress

    What buggers me the most is that when I went recently on youtube searching for documentaries on the conquest of the moon, the first results I got where those Nutwing Conspiracy Theories (NCT) claiming Apollo's missions were hoaxes... weird feeling that during these last 44 years mankind went backwards.

  13. David Roberts
    Pint

    Sobering thoughts

    My Dad was born in 1897 and was alive from before the first widely acknowledged powered manned flight in 1903 to watching the moon landings.

    I don't think I will be lucky enough to see a comparable step forward in manned flight in my lifetime.

    Having said that, the space race was probably mainly driven by USA national pride combined with the Cold War. Not something I would like to see again. Memories of the Cuba crisis are still not good.

    The big developments in my lifetime seem to be in electronics, mainly computing. A device more powerful than a mainframe computer so cheap everone has one in their pocket? Not mainstream in the SciFi I used to read in my youth. Still waiting for my personal flying belt and my jet car.

    Anyway, virtual pint raised to another hero sadly departed.

    1. druck Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Sobering thoughts

      My 3 year old is very much in to rockets, and every time he sees one, he asks me if it is going to the moon. I have to explain to him that men first when to the moon when his daddy was his younger brothers age (1), and no one has been since his daddy was his age. Worst still, I now have to tell him that those brave astronauts are very old, and half of them have died.

      I just hope he keeps up the interest without the spirit of discovery from the manned space program that characterised my childhood in the 70s and 80s, and him and his brother live long enough to see mankind take the next giant leap on to another world.

  14. a_mu

    Land speed record

    I also seem to remember that he holds the Luna land speed record, for flooring the Luna rover .

    something like 10 MPH I seem to remember.

    Now that took some bottle... and needs to be remembered,

    RIP

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: Land speed record

      Also (IIRC) the absolute human speed record, during one of his reentries.

  15. NathanD

    Obligatory xkcd...

    https://xkcd.com/893/

    I'm 41 so in my entire life no-one has been further than the Apollo astronauts. Shocking really.

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: Obligatory xkcd...

      Apollo 13 was the furthest from Earth so far.

      I think Lovell was the furthest (by an extra m or so), since the other two (lunar rookies) were crammed up against the near side window looking at the Moon for the forest time.

    2. Arthur the cat Silver badge

      Re: Obligatory xkcd...

      Unfortunately Randal seems to be spot on with the predictions in that cartoon (which was done back in May 2011). Depressing. No more heroes any more, indeed.

  16. ukgnome

    Pioneers of Space

    It's a shame we have forgotten how to take further small steps.

    1. Steve the Cynic

      Re: Pioneers of Space

      Heck, to hear the rhetoric from politicians who are old enough to know better, we never knew how to make a rocket as big as Up Goer 5 (1). (Or, rather, they treat launching 120 tons to LEO as a new engineering goal, despite being alive when Up Goer 5 could do better than that.)

      (1) See https://xkcd.com/1133/. It's noteworthy for showing that "thousand" is not one of the 1000 most common words.

  17. Admiral Grace Hopper

    Vale

    I remember my Dad taking my brother and I into the back garden and explaining how there were men walking on the moon as we looked at it. I still feel somewhat privileged to have been alive at a time when we did that sort of thing. Once more, the passing of a great man diminishes us.

  18. This post has been deleted by its author

  19. Zebo-the-Fat

    So sad

    I feel so sad that we can no longer get beyond low earth orbit. What a pathetic species we have become.

    (BTW, at my funeral (which I have planned in advance) the use of the phrase "passed" is banned, I will be dead and I want no wimpy euphemisms about the fact)

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