Last human being to walk on the moon, December 1972.
In his words, "We were just getting good at it."
I have his autographed autobiography here and it's a great read for modellers who may have a pioneering attitude.
Cernan admits in his book that he made a thoughtful speech as his foot left the surface, but the last words spoken on the moon to date were (as they hit the ignition):
"OK, Jack, let's get this mutha outta here"
A really cool guy. RIP.
I'm glad and fortunate that as a child I had Capt Eugene Cernan and his peers to inspire me and fuel my dreams.
I count myself exceedingly fortunate to have met four of the moonwalkers and three of the non-landing "lunarnauts". Truly special people. Sadly, they didn't include Gene Cernan.
It seems unbelievable that they are all now slipping away from us before anyone has returned.
Someone (it might have been Cernan) said that Kennedy lifted a decade out of the twenty-first century and put it down into the twentieth.
About the only benefit of being old and crinkly is that I was around to see it happen!
RIP.
He did indeed write that in his memoirs, Nick. For those interested, it's The Last Man on the Moon, by Eugene Cernan with Don Davis, St. Martin's Press New York, 1999.
It's a great read.