To the students attending the talk at Triton College in River Grove, the speaker reminded them of their grandfather.
Why not?
His hair is white, he gives loads of advice, and he loves to talk about his past.
In his case, however, that past includes three days on the moon, an adventure that was part of his three trips to space that involved 566 extraterrestrial hours.
Area high school and college students were listening to former astronaut Eugene Cernan, 63, who spoke Wednesday at the college, home of the Cernan Earth and Space Center.
On his final trip to the moon in 1972, Cernan was the spacecraft commander of Apollo 17 and the last man, probably the last one in this millennium, to set foot on the moon. The college invited him to speak to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that mission.
“I thought it was sad that he was the last person to walk on the moon, and I didn’t know it,” said Bill Finn, 15, a sophomore at Fenwick High School in Oak Park and a member of the school’s Science Club.
“I didn’t know anyone else walked on the moon besides Neil Armstrong,” Finn said.
Cernan, who was born in Chicago and raised in Bellwood, was not at the school to set the record straight, although he jokingly said that his trip on the Apollo 10, two months before Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon, “painted the stripe so Neil Armstrong could find the moon.”
In the two speeches at the college, Cernan did not skip a topic. He jumped from his space mission to the future of space exploration to the drive that students need to succeed. Here is a sampling of his thoughts.
On his space missions: “When you leave the Earth and you go to another planet, you don’t just leave physically. You also leave spiritually. The meaning of time takes on a new meaning.”
On the future of space travel: “We are going to see artists, poets, journalists, doctors and teachers going to space. These aren’t passengers. These are people who will have something to contribute.”
On commitment: “If you want something bad enough, you have to commit yourself. You’ve got to take the risk.”
A day before Cernan was to speak at Triton College, Jennifer Baffi, a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School, thought it would be the usual dull speaker.
She told her mother, who let her know that this was one of only 12 men to land on the moon. Jennifer’s mother asked her to get an autograph.
Jennifer, 17, said the speech was inspiring.
“I draw,” Baffi said. “Sometimes I don’t think it is good enough. It’s inspiring to know that if he was on the moon, I can be a good artist.”
For many students, it took a while to accept that the man with the upbeat personality and quick humor had lived on the moon. At times, he sounded like a football coach with his use of short phrases, such as “been there, done that,” and, “put up or shut up.”
“It took a minute to set in,” said Will Jenkins, an Oak Park-River Forest High School senior. “I didn’t know too much about him. He really let us know that stuff can be accomplished if you can focus and concentrate.”
One teacher asked Cernan if his accomplishments had changed him. He denied any physical changes and reminded the audience that he gets dressed like anyone else.
“I still think I am the same person,” said Cernan, who lives in Houston and is chairman of Johnson Engineering.
He discussed traveling 17,000 m.p.h. around the Earth and seeing the sun rise and set every half-hour.
“In reality, I know I am different,” Cernan said. “But I can’t go around with a sign on my chest that says, `Hey, I have been to the moon.’ “
