What would you say to your loved ones if you were leaving on a trip and knew you might not return? In the case of #Boilermaker astronaut Eugene Cernan (BSEE ’56), we know the answer. Among the personal documents that Cernan donated to PurdueArchives was a letter he wrote to his mother, Rose, before departing on the Apollo 10 mission. NASA considered Apollo 10 to be the “dress rehearsal” for the Apollo 11 mission, where Cernan’s fellow Boilermaker, Neil Armstrong, became the first human on the moon. As commander of the #Apollo17 mission three years after Armstrong, Cernan became the most recent person to walk on the lunar surface, on Dec. 14, 1972. The letter to his mother, dated May 17, 1969, shares the mixture of excitement and apprehension Cernan felt ahead of the Apollo 10 mission, while at the same time attempting to comfort his mom as he prepared to explore the unknown. It’s a touching, intimate reminder of the conflicting emotions that astronauts and their families must have f...