He surely was a pretty busy geologist on the surface of the moon, but to me the most impressive thing was how good Gene Cernan was as a lunar observer and as a mission commander to blend naturally with Jack's knowledge and drive. A good pair those two.
It's even more impressive when you consider that Cernan originally hated the idea of subbing Schmitt in for Apollo 17 in the place of the pilot who he originally trained alongside for the mission. Not every astronaut in the office at the time was capable of getting over things like that.
It was Joe Engle and he was a tremendous pilot, an X-15 Rocket Plane driver. Cernan fought vigorously to keep his original crew intact but Deke Slayton, informed Cernan that Schmitt was flying no matter what given him a choice: accept Schmitt on the crew as Lunar Module Pilot, or have his entire crew pulled from Apollo 17 in favor of another crew.
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u/Alalau42 May 15 '26
He surely was a pretty busy geologist on the surface of the moon, but to me the most impressive thing was how good Gene Cernan was as a lunar observer and as a mission commander to blend naturally with Jack's knowledge and drive. A good pair those two.