Archive for December, 2022
50 years later, Gene Cernan still has the dubious honor of being The Last Man on the Moon
Dec. 14, 2022, under call to action, events, history, opinions, space t/e/d
At 05:40:56 GMT on 14 December, 1972, Apollo 17 Mission Commander Gene Cernan returned to the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) Challenger, ending the last Extravehicular Activity (EVA) of what would prove to be the final expedition of the Apollo program. To date, no other humans have yet returned to set foot on the Lunar surface, foisting on Captain Cernan the dubious honor and title of being “The Last Man on the Moon.”
Gene Cernan, along with the rest of us who were space enthusiasts in that era, expected our off-planet explorations would continue, expanding our knowledge and reach across the cosmos at the same time. Long before he passed away on 16 January 2017, Captain Cernan wrote “Too many years have passed for me to still be the last man to have left his footprints on the Moon. I believe with all my heart that somewhere out there is a young boy or girl with indomitable will and courage who will lift that dubious distinction from my shoulders and take us back where we belong. Let us give that dream a chance.”
It’s now fifty (50) years later, and still no one has set foot on soil beyond this globe we call Earth. It’s time to go back, to the Moon and beyond, because there’s not enough room or resources here for the 8+ billion people living on our planet. We need SPACE to grow, and a frontier where society can let off steam. Government funded space programs are floundering in politics, and the only way commercial space will work is if investors can be shown a profit at the bottom line. That’s a reasonable expectation on their part, and I believe I can make it happen. Please see Race To Space, Space Power Now, L5 Condos, and some of the other projects I’ve got cooking to wake this up.
Given sufficient interest, I’ll reissue the Last Man on the Moon t-shirt. Note that the shopping cart on L5Development.com isn’t working at this point (bit rot due to lack of time for attention), so you’ll have to email me or contact me on LinkedIn to let me know you’re interested.