Article: An Opportunity Almost Missed

Jan 24, 2025Air Force Aviator Sunglasses

An Opportunity Almost Missed

The Man

Gene Cernan was born on a warm day on March 14, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois. Little did his parents know that Gene would leave planet earth one day.

It turns out that Gene Cernan was not only intelligent, but he was also driven. He attended and graduated from Proviso Township High School in Maywood, Illinois. He then applied to, and was accepted at, Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Today Purdue University is welll known for it's school of Aviation and Transportation technology.

While attending Purdue University the sky caught his attention and he joined the Navy ROTC program at the university.

He was commissioned an Ensign through the Navy ROTC program at Purdue University on June 25, 1956, and then completed flight training, earning his designation as a Naval Aviator on November 22, 1957.

Before attending Naval Postgraduate School, Cernan was assigned to Attack Squadrons 126 where LtJg Cernan served as an F9F-8 Cougar pilot with VA-126 at NAS Miramar, CA.

A U.S. Navy Grumman F9F-8 Cougar of Fighter Squadron 53 (VF-53) Blue Knights in flight.

Later Cernan became an AD4 Skyhawk pilot with VA-113 at NAS Miramar, California, from July 1957 to 1961.

A U.S. Navy Douglas A-4 Skyhawk enroute to a target in North Vietnam on November 21, 1967.

Navy Career

During his career in the Navy, Cernan served as a fighter pilot with over 5,000 hours of flight time and more than 200 jet aircraft carrier landings.

But, Eugen Cernan had a passion for wanting to learn.

At the U.S. Naval Postgraduate school Cernan earned his master of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in Monterey, California.

His education continued recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Western State University College of Law in 1969, an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Purdue University in 1970, Drexel University in 1977, and Gonzaga University & Comenius University of the Slovak Republic, Petroleum Economics and Management Seminar, Northwestern University, 1978.

Captain Cernan retired from the Navy in 1976.

NASA

In 1963 Capt. Cernan was one of fourteen candidates seleced to join the astrounaut program at NASA.

Commander Cernan receives Astronaut Wings from CNO Admiral David McDonald at Pentagon ceremony 26 July 1966.

The Accident

It's January 23, 1971, and Astrounaut Gene Cernan, backup commander for Apollo 14, was making a proficiency flight in NASA 947, a 1967 Bell 47G-3B-1 Helicopter. It was N947NA, serial number 6665.

His intentions were to practice vertical approaches in preparation for a possible lunar landing in the Lunar Landing Module.

A photograph of Buzz Aldrin outside of the Apollo Lunar Landing Module on the moon.

The helicopters was serviced with full fuel tanks which made NASA 947 heavy. As a result, Cernan decided to burn off some fuel by flying along the Indian River before he began practicing his vertical descents.

A photograph of Gene Cernan hovering NASA 947 Bell 47 helicopter, circa 1971. (NASA via The Drive)

Gene said "That gave me a reason to loaf around the sky for a while and invest the extra fuel in some fun flying.

Small boats dotted the clear water below and bright islands mounded here and there on the river. Hardly a ripple disturbed the mirrorlike surface. After so many months of hard work and concentration, I couldn’t resist the temptation for a bit of mischief known among pilots as ‘flat-hatting.’ So I nosed over and swooped down from a couple of hundred feet to dance the chopper around island beaches and among the boaters, steadily getting closer to the surface. . .

Without realizing the danger, I flew into a trap that was the plague of seaplane pilots. Without ripples, the water provided no depth perception and my eyes looked straight through the clear surface to the reflective river bottom. I had lost sight of the water. But I was in control, or at least I thought so. . . until the toe of my left skid dug into the Indian River.

. . . I twisted the collective with my left hand and applied more power, pulling back on the controls, trying to get the machine to climb out of trouble. A plume of water erupted beneath the skid, then the canopy struck and a rushing tidal wave filled my vision as the helicopter lost any semblance of aerodynamic design. In a single flashing instant, it went from a speed of 100 knots to flat zero with a lurch as severe as any I had ever felt landing on an aircraft carrier or staging in a spacecraft. I crashed with a spectacular explosion.”

The above is taken from the book "The Last Man on the Moon", by Eugene Cernan and Don Davis, St. Martin's Press, New York, 19999, at Page 258.

The Bell 47 was torn apart by the impact.

A photograph of Gene Cernan hovering over the Indian River in Florida, circa 1971.

The cabin section, with Cernan still strapped inside, sank to the bottom of the river. As a Naval Aviator, he was trained in underwater egress. He freed himself from the wreck and made his way to the surface.

Gasoline from the ruptured fuel tanks was floating on the water and had caught fire. Cernan suffered some minor burns, but was otherwise unhurt. He was rescued by fishermen who were nearby.

An Opportunity Almost Missed

The location of the crash was in the Indian River near Malabar, Florida.

An accident investigation board, led by Astronaut James A. Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, concluded that the accident was pilot error, in that Cernan had misjudged his altitude when flying over the water.

A week after the flight crew for Apollo 17 was announced, in a meeting with Dr. Robert R. (“Bob”) Bob Gilruth, Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, and Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., Deputy Director of MSC and Director of Flight Operations, Colonel James Alton McDivitt, U.S. Air Force, NASA’s Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program (and who had commanded Gemini 4 and Apollo 9), insisted that Gene Cernan be grounded for poor judgement and not assigned as commander of Apollo 17.

Chris Kraft wrote:

“Why didn’t you ask me about this crew?” he [McDivitt] demanded. “Cernan’s not worthy of this assignment, he doesn’t deserve it, he’s not a very good pilot, he’s liable to screw everything up, and I don’t want him to fly.

I was shocked at how strongly Jim was reacting. “Why didn’t you ask me” he pleaded. “Why didn’t you ask me?” Then he shocked me further. “If you don’t get rid of him, I’ll quit.”

. . . I called McDivitt and told him that Cernan was staying. . .

“Thank you,” he said. “You’ll have my resignation shortly.”

— Flight: My Life in Mission Control, by Christopher C. Kraft and James L. Schefter, Dutton, New York, 2001, Chapter 23, at Pages 346 and 347.

Gene Cernan, along with Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center aboard Apollo 17, 7 December 1972.

A photograph of the liftoff of Apollo 17, December 7, 1972.

On 11 December, he and Schmitt landed at the Taurus-Littrow Valley at the southeastern edge of Mare Serenitatis.

A photograph of Gene Cernan outside the lunar module on the moon.

On 14 December 1972, Eugene Andrew Cernan was the last human to stand on the surface of The Moon.

Gene Cernan passed away on January 16, 2017.

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