# @lifeatpurdue on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CmIw9iVu58O
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2488396-lifeatpurdue-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/67bf01d230.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-12-14T05:40:15.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Purdue University (@LifeAtPurdue) — https://gondola.cc/LifeAtPurdue

## Caption

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 home planet to experience this magnificent feeling of actually being on the moon. That was not technologically possible, and I knew it, but there was a bit of guilt at being the Chosen One. I put a foot on the pad and grabbed the ladder. I knew that I had changed in the past three days, and that I no longer belonged solely to the Earth. Forever more, I would belong to the universe. With everyone back home listening, I ignored the notes on my cuff checklist and spontaneously spoke from my heart.

“‘As we leave the moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.’ I lifted my boot from the lunar dust, adding, ‘As I take these last steps from the surface for some time to come, I’d just like to record that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow.’ As I turned, I again saw the small sign pasted beneath the ladder by some unknown well-wishing worker, a phrase that I repeated every time I entered or left the Challenger. ‘Godspeed the crew of Apollo Seventeen,’ I said, and climbed on board.

“Mine would be man’s last footstep on the moon for too many years to come.”

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 8,066
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- **Comments:** 60

## Tags

apollo17, boilermaker

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