American astronaut and jet pilot, the second man to walk in space as the commander of Apollo 17. From the time he was a kid, Cernan was fascinated by flying. He lived his dreams by becoming a U.S. Navy jet pilot on 22 November 1957. With the space race competition with the Soviet Union heating up, Cernan was anxious and excited to make the short list of NASA Apollo program recruits. He flew three times in space, first with Gemini 9, Apollo 10, and his last mission, the moon mission Apollo 17.
Cernan grew up sharing a bedroom with his sister Dee in Bellwood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His father encouraged his son to become an engineer rather than his dream of taking to the sky as a pilot. He won a Navy scholarship to Purdue University. In college, Cernan met fellow student and friend, Neil Armstrong. In 1956, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and the rank of ensign. He earned his wings in 1957 and became a member of the Navy Attack Squadron 126.
Officials at NASA interviewed Cernan for a placement in the space program in the summer of 1963. In October 1963, he was offered a position with the Apollo program. Moving his family to Houston, he reported to duty on 1 February 1964. In a group of fourteen, he spent 20 weeks in technical assignments, survival trips to jungles and deserts, field trips to volcanoes, and classroom lectures. He was placed in the backup crew for Gemini 9. On 28 February 1966, the original crew of Gemini 9, Charlie Bassett and Elliot See were killed in a plane accident. That day was the most difficult moment for Cernan in all his years in the NASA space program.
With his partner Tom Stafford, Cernan was launched into space on 3 June 1966 at 9:39 A.M. On his second trip to space on 18 May 1969 at 12:49 P.M. liftoff, the Apollo 10 mission was to only roam the surface of the Moon. He watched from mission control in Houston when Neil Armstrong in Apollo 11 landed on the moon on 20 July 1969. On 7 December 1972 at 00:33 A.M. Cernan went into space for the last time as commander of Apollo 17. He drove the lunar rover on the moon. He left NASA in July 1976 and took a job in the private sector.
Cernan met Texan Barbara Atchley, a pretty Continental Airline stewardess at Los Angeles International Airport in 1960. They married on 6 May 1961. Their daughter Tracy was born on 4 March 1963. Barbara tried to be a supportive wife during her husband’s absence physically and emotionally during his NASA program. Cernan worked seven days a week traveling the world with the space program. His family paid a heavy price for his dedication in his career. By 1976, the couple divorced but remained friends. He married his second wife, Jan Nanna, in 1987. The couple raise cattle on their ranch in Texas hill country. Cernan died in a hospital in Houston on 16 January 2017 at the age of 82.
Link to Wikipedia biography