Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17 has died
We are fast running out of moonwalkers.
Dang.
His footprints - and his daughter’s initials - were the last things left on the moon’s surface. RIP.
Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do 
Looks like you did run out. The news article I read said he was the last.
Nah, there’s six left. Cernan was the most recent to have left a footprint on the Moon.
Still with us are:
Buzz Aldrin
Alan Bean
John Young
Charlie Duke
Dave Scott
Jack Schmitt
Those are just the moonwalkers - other Apollo astronauts are still with us. None from Mercury since Glenn died. I haven’t tallied the Gemini vets, although John Young and Buzz qualify there too.
When that xkcd came out a few years ago, I remember hoping that we (humanity) would always have a living moon-walker.
I attributing this one to 2016 as well. Fuck you, 2016.
So the first and the last to stand on the moon are both gone now – and we’re down to half of them. With no outward sign of anyone being in any hurry to make it so the 13th moonwalker can shake the hand of one of the earlier 12.
Good work, Captain Cernan: life well lived. Be at rest.
Here’s the list of Moon walkers.
Not only are the pair of Apollo 16 Moon walkers still alive, so is the command module pilot Ken Mattingly.
44 years, 1 month, and 3 days since the last Moon walk. If you were born since late 1928, it’s been over half your life since someone walked on the Moon.
NOW I get it! Took me a while to figure out why people were saying he was the last moonwalker but also saying that there were others. I was reading it as there was only one moonwalker left (him) until he died, not that he was the most recent moonwalker. Confusing news articles.
Cernan, along with James Lovell and John Young, had been to the moon twice. Cernan and Young flew to lunar orbit on Apollo 10. Young walked on the moon with Apollo 16 and Cernan walked on the moon with Apollo 17. Lovell flew to lunar orbit on Apollo 8 and flew past the moon on Apollo 13, although Apollo 13 was planned as a landing, which was aborted when a tank blew out on the service module enroute to the moon.
I meet the man once. Shook his hand…took up a few moments of his time. Very gracious. Kept meaning to send a nice letter to him about it. Even composed it in my mind a few dozens times…
But never did. Maybe he had a giant pile of letters he didn’t have time to read. Maybe he was mostly sitting around twiddling his thumbs. Maybe my hopefully nice letter would have made his day.
I’m so sorry I never wrote that damn letter Mr. Cernan.
When Aldrin dies I’m going to be especially sorry. He won’t be able to punch Bart Sibrel in the face anymore.
Bumped.
Ken Mattingly didn’t make it the surface, but he orbited the Moon. Played by Gary Sinise in Apollo 13. May he rest in peace.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/us/ken-mattingly-death-apollo-astronaut-scn/index.html