List of Apollo Astronauts - Apollo Astronauts Who Walked On The Moon

Apollo Astronauts Who Walked On The Moon

Twelve men have walked on the Moon – all American – eight of whom are still alive. All of the landings took place between July 1969 and December 1972 as part of the Apollo program.

Regarding "the last man to walk on the Moon", Schmitt is the last person to arrive (as Cernan got out of the Apollo Lunar Module first), but Cernan is the last person to leave (after final EVA (extra-vehicular activity), Schmitt went inside the module first). Duke was the youngest, at age 36 (+6mo); Shepard was the oldest, at age 47 (+2mo).

James A. Lovell, John W. Young and Eugene Cernan are the only three astronauts to fly more than one lunar mission (two each). Of these three, only Lovell did not walk on the lunar surface. Lovell and Fred Haise were prevented from walking on the Moon by the malfunction on Apollo 13 that resulted in the mission being aborted. Haise was scheduled to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 19 prior to that mission’s cancellation on September 2, 1970.

Joe Engle had also trained to explore the Moon with Cernan as the backup crew for Apollo 14, but Engle was later replaced by geologist Harrison Schmitt when the primary crew for Apollo 17 was selected. Schmitt had been crewed with Dick Gordon in anticipation for Apollo 18. When Apollo 18 was canceled, Schmitt bumped Engle, leaving Gordon as the last Apollo astronaut who had trained extensively for lunar exploration without ever getting a chance to fly a lunar landing.