Eugene Cernan, born 14th March 1934 is a retired United States Navy officer and a former NASA astronaut. He has been into space three times: as co - pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966 : as a lunar module pilot of Apollo 9 in May 1969 : and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972. During this last mission, Cernan became the last man to have walked on the moon, since he was the last to re - enter the Apollo Lunar Model during its third and final extra - vehicular activity (EVA). Cernan was also a back - up crew member for the Gemini 12, Apollo 7 and Apollo 14 missions.