At this very moment (12:40 a.m.), it has been exactly 50 years since #Boilermaker astronaut Eugene Cernan (BSEE ’56) took humankind’s most recent steps on the moon’s surface as part of the #Apollo17 mission. What was it like to take these historic final steps, not knowing when (or if) the next space traveler might arrive? Let’s hear it from Cernan himself, in this selection from his autobiography, “The Last Man on the Moon”: “Every astronaut who had gone into space, who made it possible for me to fly a little higher, stay a little longer, was at my side. These were the giants upon whose shoulders I stood as I reached for the stars. I could almost feel the presence of Roger (Chaffee), Gus (Grissom), Ed (White), and all other astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the pursuit of the moon. We had carried on in their names. “I took one last unfiltered look at the Earth and was enveloped by a sense of selfishness, for I was unable to adequately share what I felt. I wanted everyone on my ...