Last man on the moon became convinced of God’s existence
By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
HOUSTON TX (ANS -- January 20, 2017)
-- Apollo 17 Astronaut Eugene Cernan -- the last man to walk on the
surface of the moon -- left the earth’s gravitational pull once more as
his soul jettisoned into eternity. He was 82.
Cernan
died Monday in a Houston hospital surrounded by family members as a
result of “ongoing health issues,” according to a statement by his
family posted on NASA’s website.
On
his last mission to the moon in December 1972 he said he felt like he
was looking back at the earth from “God’s front porch,” saying the
experience convinced him of the existence of a Creator.
On
that mission, Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, a scientist, steered their
lunar rover through a valley where they managed to collect 294 pounds of
rock and soil samples, the largest quantity astronauts would ever
retrieve.
Cernan
accidentally tore off one of the rover’s fenders with a rock hammer
that protruded from his pocket. Cernan recognized it had to be fixed,
and improvised a creative solution using geology maps and duct tape.
At
the end of the mission, Cernan wrote his daughter Tracy’s initials in
the lunar dust and clambered aboard the Challenger module – becoming the
last man to stand on the moon. “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,” he said.
No one has ever returned, a fact that Cernan bemoaned.
Astronaut Cernan logged some 566 hours and 15 minutes in space, and more than 73 hours were spent on the moon’s surface.
In
a 2007 NASA Oral History Project interview, Cernan stated that standing
on the moon left him with a profound revelation of the existence of
God.
“Science
and technology got me there, but when I got there and I looked back
home at the Earth, science and technology could not explain what I was
seeing nor what I was feeling,” he said. “You look at the Earth, and it
very majestically yet mysteriously rotates on an axis you can’t see but
must be there. There are no strings holding it up. It moves with
purpose. It moves with logic.”
Photo captions: 1) Apollo 17 Astronaut Eugene Cernan. 2) Cernan gives a salute as he walks on the moon. 3) Mark Ellis.
About the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and is also the the founder of www.GodReports.com,
a website that shares testimonies and videos from the church around the
world to build interest and involvement in world missions.
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