I never knew the names of most of the astronauts from NASA's golden age, being more familiar with Space Shuttle astronauts like Sally Ride, Judith Resnick and others. But I did know Neil Armstrong. After all, he was the first human to walk on The Moon.

But there was one man who walked in the shadow of Neil Armstrong, and he was the last human being to walk on The Moon, and few people, if any, have ever heard of him.

So who WAS the last man on the Moon?

One night, as I was looking at the Moon, I thought 'wow, a human being actually stood on the surface of the Moon...humanS actually'. If you look at the new Moon with binoculars, you can resolve the disk, which is pretty neat. So anyway, as I was admiring The Moon, I started wondering about the astronauts who accompanied Neil Armstrong on his historic mission, and who the last human being to stand on the Moon was, and Google gave me the answer - Navy Pilot and space traveler Eugene Cernan.

"Almost too beautiful to grasp".

“I stood in the blue darkness and looked in awe at the Earth from the lunar surface. What I saw was almost too beautiful to grasp.”

- from Eugene Cernan's memoir, 'The Last Man on the Moon'.

Most people don't like the idea of being last. Sometimes though, being last could come in handy - like if you are holding a slip of paper with the number 100 on it and the 100th customer wins a shopping spree that day.

And sometimes being last can be pretty amazing - like being the last human being to walk on the surface of the Moon. Although Neil Armstrong is extremely well known by anyone not hiding under a rock, there's something to be said for being the last human being to set foot on the surface of the Moon.

Think of that for a minute - You walk outside, look up at the Moon and say to yourself "I was the last human being to ever stand there".

Pretty mind-boggling all right.

"...as we leave the Moon at Taurus Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."

Those were the last words spoken to Earth from the Moon, and as recorded in Eugene Cernan's memoirs.

Well I know what book I'm going to read...