Gene Cernan Quotes

Curiosity is the essence of our existence.

Funny thing happened on the way to the moon: not much,” wrote Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan. “Should have brought some crossword puzzles.

I know we’re not the first to discover this,’ Gene Cernan radioed back from about 29,000 kilometres, ‘but we’d like to confirm, from the crew of America, that the world is round.

Given the complexity of the chore, “escapees,” as free-floating fecal material is known in astronautical circles, plagued the crews. Below is an excerpt from the Apollo 10 mission transcript, starring Mission Commander Thomas Stafford, Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan, and Command Module Pilot John Young, orbiting the moon 200,000-plus miles from the nearest bathroom. CERNAN:…You know once you get out of lunar orbit, you can do a lot of things. You can power down…And what’s happening is— STAFFORD: Oh—who did it? YOUNG: Who did what? CERNAN: What? STAFFORD: Who did it? [laughter] CERNAN: Where did that come from? STAFFORD: Give me a napkin quick. There’s a turd floating through the air. YOUNG: I didn’t do it. It ain’t one of mine. CERNAN: I don’t think it’s one of mine. STAFFORD: Mine was a little more sticky than that. Throw that away. YOUNG: God almighty. [And again eight minutes later, while discussing the timing of a waste-water dump.] YOUNG: Did they say we could do it anytime? CERNAN: They said on 135. They told us that—Here’s another goddam turd. What’s the matter with you guys? Here, give me a— YOUNG/STAFFORD: [laughter]… STAFFORD: It was just floating around? CERNAN: Yes. STAFFORD: [laughter] Mine was stickier than that. YOUNG: Mine was too. It hit that bag— CERNAN: [laughter] I don’t know whose that is. I can neither claim it nor disclaim it. [laughter] YOUNG: What the hell is going on here?

I felt that I was literally standing on a plateau somewhere out there in space, a plateau that science and technology had allowed me to get to. But now what I was seeing and even more important what I was feeling at that moment in time, science and technology had no answers for, literally no answers because there I was and there you are, there you are, The Earth, dynamic, overwhelming, and I felt that the world had just too much purpose, too much logic, it was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me and I mean this in a spiritual sense not in a religious sense, there has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives.

I felt that I was literally standing on a plateau somewhere out there in space, a plateau that science and technology had allowed me to get to. But now what I was seeing and even more important what I was feeling at that moment in time science and technology had no answers for. Literally no answers. Because there I was and there you are. There you are, the Earth: dynamic, overwhelming. And I felt that the world had just too much purpose, too much logic, it was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me and I mean this in a spiritual sense not in a religious sense, there has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives.

I felt that I was literally standing on a plateau somewhere out there in space, a plateau that science and technology had allowed me to get to. But now what I was seeing and even more important what I was feeling at that moment in time, science and technology had no answers for, literally no answers. Because there I was and there you are--there you are--The Earth: dynamic, overwhelming. And I felt that the world had just too much purpose, too much logic, it was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me and I mean this in a spiritual sense not in a religious sense, there has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives.

My task to keep everyone focused wasn’t easy. A cartoonist pictured two workers in hard hats on a scaffold, one about to jump, holding a notice that he had been fired. The other guy was on a telephone, asking: “Can we get Gene Cernan up here to give Smith that ‘It’s not the end, it’s the beginning’ speech again?” There were a lot of Smiths out there, for some 13,000 Cape workers had lost their jobs over the past several years, and another 900 would get pink slips as soon as we blasted off. Many of the Grumman troops literally worked themselves into unemployment when our lunar module went out the door at Bethpage, and more would be gone at the moment of liftoff. But during one visit there, a supervisor told me, “We’re giving you our heart and soul on this one, Geno. This is the best LM that’s ever gonna fly.” That

The last man on the moon, Gene Cernan, had paused for a final look at the black beauty of the world about him. He had a message to send home before departing. “As I take these last steps from the surface for some time in the future to come, I’d just like to record that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And as we leave the moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” It’s been nearly four decades since he spoke those words. No American, no earth being has yet returned to the moon. Sadly, no one will again for decades to come.

I felt that I was literally standing on a plateau somewhere out there in space, a plateau that science and technology had allowed me to get to. But now what I was seeing and even more important what I was feeling at that moment in time, science and technology had no answers for, literally no answers because there I was and there you are, there you are, The Earth, dynamic, overwhelming, and I felt that the world had just too much purpose, too much logic, it was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me and I mean this in a spiritual sense not in a religious sense, there has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives.” Gene Cernan Apollo 10 & 17

If we want to change course, it’s as simple as ABC. We just get Roger Chaffee’s tracking network to send up a state vector and a couple of other things to Dave Scott’s computer, which feeds pointing commands through Dick Gordon’s instrument panel to Donn Eisele’s controls, which cause Walt Cunningham’s electricity to power Gene Cernan’s engines, which fire, to get us out of Bill Anders’s radiation zone into the position called for by Buzz Aldrin’s flight plan. The rest of you guys must be loafing!

In all likelihood, however, I would have been back-up commander of Apollo 14 and would have walked the moon on 17, the last of the series. But in June 1969 I couldn’t even count to seventeen, nor do I have any regrets today over the decision … Still, I watched Gene Cernan with more than average interest during that flight three and a half years later.

As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind

I felt that I was literally standing on a plateau somewhere out there in space, a plateau that science and technology had allowed me to get to. But now what I was seeing and even more important what I was feeling at that moment in time, science and technology had no answers for, literally no answers because there I was and there you are--there you are, The Earth: dynamic, overwhelming--and I felt that the world had just too much purpose, too much logic, it was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me and I mean this in a spiritual sense not in a religious sense, there has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives.