The story of the man on the last moon

They were pioneers of space exploration – 24 NASA astronauts who traveled to the moon during Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s.

loss Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13he guided Stricken Mission safely returned to Earth in 1970which means that only five people have escaped the relative safety of Earth’s orbit and have entered space further.

Now, for more than 50 years, the race to put people back on the moon’s surface has heated up again.

NASA hopes its Artemis program will lead to the decade of living astronauts on the moon. China also plans to put people on the moon’s surface by 2030 A detector landed In the distance of the moon in June 2024.

Many private companies try to send scientific crafts to the moon, although Unlucky The number of people exceeded success.

NASA intends to launch Artemis 2, the first crewed moon expedition since Apollo 17 in 1972, but last year That date has slipped into 2026as the space agency said, it takes more time to prepare.

Meanwhile, companies like SpaceX and Boeing continue to develop their own technologies, although not without setbacks.

question Boeing’s Stalinner This put two astronauts into the International Space Station, which was embarrassing for the aerospace giants, SpaceX’s Starship’s “Quick Plan Unfinished Disassembly” It has become a habitual scene for space observers.

These delays underscore the sad fact that the remaining Apollo astronauts are declining.

Jim Lovell made history with Frank Borman and Bill Anders when the three performed the first lunar mission of Apollo 8, testing the command/service module and its lifespan support system in preparation for the later Apollo 11 landing.

Their craft actually made 10 moons before they got home. Later, Lover was considered the fifth man to walk on the moon’s surface by commander Apollo 13 – but of course, this never happened.

Instead, in the movie Apollo 13, the story of his death brush is immortal, played by Tom Hanks.

After retiring from NASA in 1973, Lovell worked in the telecommunications industry. Marilyn, a wife of over 60 years, became a media focus in the infamous incident and died in August 2023.

But what about the remaining five moon men?

Who are they and what is their story?

On July 21, 1969, former fighter pilot Edwin “buzzed” Aldrin left his lunar landing ship and became the second person to step onto the moon’s surface. His commander, Neil Armstrong, was nearly 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

Aldrin’s first sentence is: “Beautiful scenery.”

“Isn’t that?” Armstrong asked. “The magnificent sight here.”

Aldrin replied: “Magnificent desolation.”

He was the second fact that he had never sat with him. His crewman Michael Collins said Aldrin “has no second he appreciates about the number one on the moon.”

But Aldrin is still proud of his achievements. Years later, Aldrin, 72, punched him in the chin when a man claiming to Apollo 11 faced a well-crafted lie.

After Neil Armstrong’s death in 2012, Aldrin said: “I know I’ve joined millions of others around the world to mourn a true American hero and the best pilot I’ve ever known.”

Despite struggling in his later life, he never lost his desire for adventure and joined the expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic, the latter at 86.

While embracing celebrities, he remains a champion of the space program, especially Need to explore Mars.

“I don’t think we should be back there – we did it with Apollo,” he said.

In “The New Generation”, his name has become the inspiration for Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story series. In January 2023, he was 93 years old and got married for the fourth time.

Only four people are still alive and walking on the moon – Charlie Duke is one of them. His age is 36, making him the youngest man to step onto the surface of the moon.

In a later BBC interview, he talked about “spectacular terrain”.

“Its beauty…the sharp contrast between the blackness of space and the moon horizon…I will never forget it. It’s so dramatic.”

But he has played another important role in NASA’s exploration of the moon. Apollo 11, after landing in 1969, was Duke – under the control of Capcom or Capcom’s mission, he said under Neil Armstrong: “Houston, the tranquil base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Duke replied in his unique southern draw: “Roger, tranquility. We copy you on the ground, you have a lot of people going to turn blue, and we breathe again.”

“I mean, I held my breath for the last minute or so.” He later told the BBC.

In 2022, Duke told the BBC that he was excited about NASA’s Artemis Mission – but warned that it was not easy for a new generation of astronauts.

“They have picked the landing near the Antarctic because if there is ice on the moon, it will fall in that area. So it will be difficult – because it’s really rough. But we’ll take it off.”

Charlie Duke now lives outside San Antonio, Texas with Dorothy, who has been married for 60 years.

Fred Haise is part of the crew of Apollo 13 Avoid disasters narrowly In 1970, after the explosion on board, the mission was aborted when the spacecraft exceeded 200,000 miles (321,000 kilometers) from the earth.

The world watched nervously as NASA tried to safely return to the damaged spacecraft and its crew. After returning, Hayes became celebrities with his crew, James Lovell and Jack Swigert, and it was obviously their surprise.

“I think maybe I missed something while I was there,” he told talk show host Johnny Carson when the crew showed up on the show tonight.

Hayes never landed on the moon. Although originally scheduled to be the commander of Apollo 19, the mission was cancelled due to budget cuts, and all other flights after Apollo 17 were cancelled.

Later, he worked as a test pilot on the company’s prototype space shuttle.

Like many of his Apollo alumni, after leaving NASA, Haise continued to work in the aerospace industry until retirement.

Unlike most other astronauts at the time, Schmidt did not serve as a U.S. military pilot.

He was a geologist and scholar who initially instructed NASA astronauts what to look for on their geological moon field trips before becoming a scientist in 1965.

Schmitt was part of the last part of Apollo 17’s crew mission and was with Eugene Cernan, the commander who stepped on the last two men on the moon’s surface in December 1972.

After leaving NASA in 1975, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from his hometown in New Mexico, but only served for one term. Since then, he has worked as a consultant in various industries and continues to serve as a consultant in academia.

He is also known for his scientific consensus on climate change.

David Scott, commander of Apollo 15, was one of four men who only walked on the moon – but he was also one of the first to drive.

In 1971, Scott and crew member James Irwin tested the Lunar Tour Vehicle (LRV), the “first wheel of human beings on the moon”, known as the so-called. Drive at speeds up to 8 mph, the LRV allows astronauts to get faster from Lunar Lander than walking.

“In the first mission, you never know if it will work.” “The biggest thrill was taking it out, opening it up, and it actually worked.”

After returning from the moon, Scott joined the private sector, working in various management roles at NASA.

He has also served as an advisor to several film and television projects, including Apollo 13 and the HBO miniseries from Earth to Moon.

What will the next generation of moon adventurers accomplish?