eugene andrews cernan was borne in 1934 in chicago. his dream of being a naval aviator was sown at an early age. he signed up for the naval rotc program at purdue university and accepted into the u.s. navy a short time graduation. the newly formed nasa announced their seven pioneer astronauts. cernan was fascinated. a new dream was born. he wanted to ride a rocket shop into space. in 1963, nasa selected him for project gemini and apollo. cernan jumped at the chance. when i watch those guys go up, they were any heros. all of a sudden, i found myself walking a hall. they called me gene. he was the first pilot of the