US | Gene Cernan Last Astronaut on the Moon Dead at 82 Gene Cernan spent 3 days on the moon in 1972 By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Jan 16, 2017 3:03 PM CST Copied Former U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man who walked on the Moon in December 1972, views the exhibition, Traces of People in the National Museum in Prague Wednesday, June 18, 2008. (AP Photo/CTK, Stanislav Zbynek) Former astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, has died at age 82, the AP reports. NASA announced that Cernan died Monday surrounded by his family. Cernan and Apollo 17 crewmate Harrison Schmitt spent three days on the moon in December 1972. As he followed Schmitt into the lunar lander for the return home, he offered a message of "peace and hope for all mankind." He also traced the initials of his 9-year-old daughter into the dust of the lunar surface. Cernan also took part in a Gemini spaceflight in 1965 and in Apollo 10, the last mission before the one that put Neil Armstrong on the moon in July 1969. Read These Next White House makes Hegseth put his polygraph away. A new book argues the Sacagawea legend is all wrong. 11 people hurt in a "brutal act of violence" in Michigan. The NFL's heaviest player told to slim down. Report an error