Eugene Cernan
Apollo 17 commander; last human to walk on the Moon, December 1972.
Last refreshed: 5 April 2026
Cernan left the Moon in 1972 saying humanity would return; did Artemis II fulfil that promise?
Latest on Eugene Cernan
- Who was the last person to walk on the Moon?
- Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, was the last human to leave the lunar surface, stepping off on 14 December 1972.Source: NASA
- What did Eugene Cernan say when he left the Moon?
- Cernan’s final words on the lunar surface were: “We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
- How long has it been since humans were near the Moon before Artemis II?
- Over 53 years. Eugene Cernan left the lunar surface on 14 December 1972; no crewed spacecraft entered the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence again until Artemis II on Day 5 of the mission in April 2026.Source:
- Did Eugene Cernan live to see Artemis?
- No. Cernan died on 16 January 2017, aged 82, eight years before Artemis II launched. He had been a vocal advocate for returning humans to the Moon.
Background
Eugene Cernan commanded Apollo 17, the final crewed lunar landing, in December 1972. He was the last person to step off the lunar surface, departing Taurus-Littrow on 14 December 1972 with the words: “We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” That moment began a hiatus of over 53 years before another crewed spacecraft entered the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence. Orion crossed that threshold on Day 5 of Artemis II, at approximately 322,000 km from Earth.
Cernan flew three NASA missions: Gemini 9A (1966), Apollo 10 (1969, which descended to 15 km above the lunar surface without landing), and Apollo 17. On the lunar surface he logged 22 hours of EVA time across three moonwalks and covered 35 km in the Lunar Roving Vehicle alongside Harrison Schmitt. He died on 16 January 2017, aged 82.
Cernan’s final departure from the Moon became one of the most-cited markers in human spaceflight: a concrete date after which no human travelled further than low Earth orbit for more than five decades. The Artemis II crew’s Day 5 milestone closes that chapter.