The 12 men who walked on the moon
Gene Cernan, commander of the Apollo 17 mission to the moon, poses in front of an American flag and the crew’s lunar rover.
NASA’s Apollo space program stretched from 1961 to 1972, and culminated in a dozen men walking on the moon.
Gene Cernan, who died Jan. 16, 2016, was the 11th man to set foot on the moon -- but the last to leave the lunar surface at the end of his third and final moonwalk with Harrison “Jack” Schmitt.
The following photos look back at the NASA astronauts who walked upon the lunar surface.
Neil Armstrong, the first moonwalk
In this July 16, 1969 file photo, Neil Armstrong waving in front, heads for the van that will take the crew to the rocket for launch to the moon at Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla. He was the first man to set foot on the moon.
Buzz Aldrin
Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin walks by the footpad of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module.
Charles "Pete" Conrad
Apollo 12 commander Charles “Pete” Conrad unfurls the United States flag on the lunar surface during the first extravehicular activity on Nov. 19, 1969.
Alan L. Bean
Astronaut Alan L. Bean, Lunar Module pilot for the Apollo 12 lunar landing mission, holds a Special Environmental Sample Container filled with lunar soil collected during the extravehicular activity (EVA) in which Astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., commander, and Bean participated.
Alan Shepard
An undated picture shows U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard who became the first American astronaut to journey into space on May 5, 1961 in the Freedom 7 spacecraft.
Edgar D. Mitchell
A picture taken on February 6, 1971 shows Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 lunar module pilot, moving across the lunar surface while looking over a traverse map during extravehicular activity (EVA).
David R. Scott
Astronaut David R. Scott, commander, gives a military salute while standing beside the deployed U.S. flag during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site.
James B. Irwin
Astronaut James B. Irwin, Lunar Module pilot, works at the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The shadow of the Lunar Module “Falcon” is in the foreground.
John Young
The pilot and commander of the shuttle get the prime seats in the forward section of the flight deck. Here, astronaut Young, commander of the STS-1 mission, looks up from a loose-leaf notebook used to record flight activity.
Charles M. Duke Jr.
Charles M. Duke Jr. was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 10 flight. He was CAPCOM for Apollo 11, the first landing on the Moon and he served as backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 13.
Gene Cernan
In this file photo from 1972, U.S. American Navy commander and astronaut Eugene Cernan, is pictured in his space suit.
Cernan died Jan. 16, 2017 at age 82. He was the 11th man to set foot on the moon, but the last to leave the lunar surface at the end of the third and final moonwalk with Harrison “Jack” Schmitt.
Harrison "Jack" Shmitt
Harrison “Jack” Shmitt was the next-to-last astronaut from the Apollo 17 mission to leave the lunar surface, followed by Cernan.
