# @lifeatpurdue on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CmC5luuJZgZ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2476878-lifeatpurdue-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b93b02b3b7.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-12-11T23:00:12.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Purdue University (@LifeAtPurdue) — https://gondola.cc/LifeAtPurdue

## Caption

How does walking on the moon forever change you?

Fifty years ago today, at 6:54 p.m. EST, #Purdue astronaut Eugene Cernan (BSEE ’56) found out when he took his first steps on the moon as part of the #Apollo17 mission. Mission commander Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt would remain on the lunar surface for approximately 75 hours, which included three moonwalks.

From Dec. 11-14, we are commemorating Cernan’s historic mission with a post recognizing each day that he and Schmitt spent on the moon.

Today’s post features a selection from Cernan’s autobiography, “The Last Man on the Moon”:

“The question that I am asked most frequently is: ‘Did going to the moon change you?’ I would like to think that I am the same person I have always been, for I still pull on my pants one leg at a time, bleed red when cut, and have to pay the mortgage when it is due. Just like everyone else. But how could having lived on another planet not force at least some sort of change? Walking on the moon and walking on Main Street are two entirely different experiences. I can always walk on Main Street again, but I can never return to my Valley of Taurus-Littrow, and that cold fact has left me with a yearning restlessness. It was perhaps the brightest moment of my life, and I can’t go back.

“Enriched by a singular event that is larger than life, I no longer have the luxury of being ordinary. To stand on the lunar surface and look back at our Earth creates such a personal sense of awe that even Alan Shepard wept at the view. Trying to exist within the paradox of being in this world after visiting another may be why some moon voyagers tend to be reclusive.

“I spent years searching for the ‘next big thing’ to replace my grand moon adventure, constantly asking myself, ‘Where now, Columbus?’ I realize that other people look at me differently than I look at myself, for I am one of only 12 human beings to have stood on the moon. I have come to accept that, and the enormous responsibility it carries, but as for finding a suitable encore, nothing has ever come close.”

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- **Likes:** 2,374
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## Tags

apollo17, purdue

## Matching Posts

- @lifeatpurdue on Instagram — https://gondola.cc/posts/5262801-lifeatpurdue-instagram

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