Astronomy student meets “last man on the moon”
When Whitney Ward signed up for her first astronomy class at Douglas this semester, she had no idea she would end up face-to-face with an actual astronaut. But that's exactly what happened after she won a ticket to the 2010 Aviation Safety Summit in Vancouver last month.
Ward was one of a select few in attendance at the event on March 22, where Gene Cernan spoke. Cernan, a retired astronaut, was part of the Apollo 17 mission to the moon in 1972. He was the last one to step out of the American shuttle when it arrived, which has earned him the nickname "last man on the moon."
"I hadn't heard much about him before, everyone hears about Neil Armstrong," says Ward.
"But he actually went up before Neil Armstrong, to test the safety equipment."
She says that despite being the last person in history to set foot on the moon, Cernan was very down to earth.
"He's somebody that you'd be able to just sit down and chat with. He reminded me a lot of my Grandpa - they were both pilots."
Ward, a University Transfer student, won the chance to hear Cernan speak at the event after winning an essay contest in her astronomy class on the topic, "why should we go back to the moon?"
Ward plans to be an elementary school teacher. In her essay, she explained how inspiring it would be for her future young students to see someone walk on the moon in their lifetime, especially because of technological advances like the internet.
"It would be really cool for kids to experience it first-hand. They could even follow the blog of somebody who's on the moon." she says.
One of the highlights of the event was when Cernan presented some of the photographs he took during the 1972 mission. One photo in particular really stood out - an image of one of Cernan's colleagues standing on the moon's surface, with the earth in the background.
"It was so strange. The earth just looked so much smaller than the moon does from here," says Ward.
Jennifer Kirkey, the instructor who awarded Ward the ticket, says she hopes the experience of meeting the last person to walk on the moon is something Ward will share with her future students.
"Whitney has already shared her experience with the rest of the astronomy class and I trust that she will continue to do so with the same passion," says Kirkey.
Published April 15, 2010
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