The last astronaut ever set foot on the Moon died

Eugene Cernan, astronaut set foot on the Moon during the last American conquest mission, died at the age of 82.

Former astronaut Eugene Cernan died at the age of 82 for health reasons on January 16 in the arms of his relatives, the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) said, according to Reuters.

Cernan and astronaut Harrison Schmitt on the Apollo 17 became the last to set foot on the surface of the Moon when their module successfully landed on the planet on December 11, 1972. Since then, no astronaut has returned to the Moon.

Former astronaut Eugene Cernan.

Cernan and Schmitt were on the Moon for three days, using a dedicated vehicle to travel 30km and bring 100kg of rock on the planet's surface after 22 hours of exploration of craters and hills. Cernan was 38 and then commander of the Apollo 17.

On the last day of exploration, Cernan wrote three letters in his daughter's name to the Moon. He thinks these words will survive "longer than anyone can imagine."

"I know I changed in three days and I no longer belong to Earth alone," Cernan wrote in his memoir "The Last Man on the Moon". Astronaut Cernan has two wives and three daughters.