Astronaut Cernan Moon Walks Audience Through Apollo 10 Anniversary

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Apollo 10 astronaut Gene Cernan, right, with host Nick Clooney, said seeing the Earth from the moon was one of the highlights of the mission. (Maria Bryk/Newseum)

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Apollo 10 astronaut Gene Cernan, right, said he hoped the United States would return to the moon and send a mission to Mars. (Maria Bryk/Newseum)

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Apollo 10 astronaut Gene Cernan, right, commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 10 mission with a packed audience. (Maria Bryk/Newseum)

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Apollo 10 astronaut Gene Cernan, left, and host Nick Clooney, pose with a fan after the program. (Maria Bryk/Newseum)

WASHINGTON — At a special Newseum program May 18 commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 10 mission, astronaut Gene Cernan shared with a packed audience his experience on that crucial flight. Veteran journalist and distinguished journalist-in-residence Nick Clooney moderated the event.

Cernan, who piloted the lunar module named Snoopy, was the second American to walk in space and the last person to walk on the moon in 1972.

Though the Apollo 10 mission did not include an actual moon landing, Cernan, along with commander Thomas P. Stafford and command module pilot John W. Young, carried out the actual maneuvers that the Apollo 11 crew would perform on their historic moon landing two months later.

Apollo 10’s journey to the moon and back to Earth took 192 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds. It was the first mission to use live color TV transmissions; the first mission to travel with a fully configured spacecraft; and the first mission of an "all-experienced" crew of NASA veterans.