Navy service Ĭernan was commissioned a U.S. In 1956, Cernan received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering his final GPA was 5.1 out of 6.0. After his sophomore year, he accepted a partial Navy ROTC scholarship that required him to serve aboard USS Roanoke between his junior and senior years.

He was on the military ball committee and was a member of the Skull and Crescent leadership honor society. At Purdue, Cernan was also president of the Quarterdeck Society and the Scabbard and Blade, and a member of the Phi Eta Sigma honor society and Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.

After attending McKinley Elementary School in Bellwood, and graduating from Proviso Township High School in Maywood in 1952, he studied at Purdue University where he became a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, serving as a treasurer. He was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of Second Class. Cernan grew up in the Illinois towns of Bellwood and Maywood. His father was of Slovak descent and his mother was of Czech ancestry. Cernan was also a backup crew member of the Gemini 12, Apollo 7 and Apollo 14 space missions.Ĭernan was born on March 14, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois he was the son of Rose ( née Cihlar 1898–1991) and Andrew George Cernan (1904–1967). Achieving the rank of captain, he retired from the Navy in 1976.Ĭernan traveled into space three times and to the Moon twice: as pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966, as lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969, and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972, the final Apollo lunar landing. In 1963 he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. After flight training, he received his naval aviator wings and served as a fighter pilot. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he is the last man to walk on the Moon as of 2022.īefore becoming an astronaut, Cernan graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and joined the U.S. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh man to walk on the Moon. Eugene Andrew Cernan ( / ˈ s ɜːr n ə n/ March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot.

2nd man on the moon pictures