VIDEO: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Remembers Late NASA Astronaut Gene Cernan
By Space Coast Daily // January 18, 2017
Eugene Cernan 1934-2017
ABOVE VIDEO: On January 18, 2017, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex honored Gemini and Apollo astronaut Captain Eugene Cernan at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana and space shuttle astronaut Jon McBride were on hand to speak about Gene’s legacy as the last man on the moon. (KSC Visitor Complex Video)
BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – A ceremony was held at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex this afternoon to honor Gemini and Apollo astronaut and naval aviator Captain Eugene Cernan, who passed away on January 16, 2017.
Held at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame inside Heroes & Legends, the ceremony included remarks by Therrin Protze, chief operating officer, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; space shuttle astronaut Jon McBride; and Robert Cabana, director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and space shuttle astronaut.
“We are saddened of the loss of our American hero, Astronaut Gene Cernan. As the last man to place footsteps on the surface of the moon, he was a truly inspiring icon who challenged the impossible,” said Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
“People throughout generations have been and will forever be inspired by his actions, and the underlying message that what we can achieve is limited only by our imaginations. He will forever be known as ‘The Last Man on the Moon,” and for the extraordinary impact he had on our country and the world.”
After being one of 12 astronauts to walk on the moon, Cernan retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy in 1976, but continued to advise NASA as a consultant.
As an astronaut, Cernan left an indelible impression on the moon when he scratched his daughter’s initials in the lunar surface alongside the footprints he left as the last human to walk on the moon.
Guests of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex can learn more about Cernan’s legacy at the new Heroes & Legends exhibit, where his spacewalk outside the actual Gemini IX space capsule is brought to life through holographic imagery.
