Group 3 (1963)
Gene Cernan
The last man on the Moon.
Gene Cernan flew Gemini 9, where his brutal two-hour spacewalk taught NASA hard lessons about EVA work, then orbited within nine miles of the lunar surface on Apollo 10’s dress rehearsal for the landing.
As commander of Apollo 17 in 1972, Cernan spent three days exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley and became the last human to leave footprints on the Moon, tracing his daughter’s initials in the dust before climbing the ladder. He spent his final decades campaigning for a return.