April 7, 2023

To The Moon and Back, The Apollo-Chicago Connection

The Triton College Cernan Earth and Space Center is excited to have Edward Rafacz, a Space Station ambassador, give a presentation of “To The Moon and Back, The Apollo-Chicago Connection,” on Friday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and all ages are welcome. Pre-registration is required.     

Rafacz, a Space Station ambassador and Space Exploration Merit Badge counselor, will go into depth about astronauts Jim Lovell (one of the first men to travel around the moon) and Gene Cernan (the last man to walk on the moon), and their deep roots to the Chicagoland area. He will also speak about the Apollo missions and how aerospace engineer John Houbolt (an unsung hero) made it all possible. 

Rafacz first became interested with the space program as a second grader in 1972 when he passed up on going to recess to watch Gene Cernan become the last person to walk on the moon during the Apollo 17 Mission. He is also a commercial airline pilot and an avionics app developer. 

“We want attendees to realize that going to the moon was a team effort,” said Kris McCall, director of the Cernan Earth and Space Center. “The astronauts were just the tip of the human iceberg. Creative thinkers and problem solvers like John Houbolt saw challenges. However, they were able to figure out how to bring those moonwalkers safely back to Earth.” 

The Triton College Cernan Earth and Space Center hours are Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Saturday, 6:30-9:30 p.m. The center is closed on Sundays.

To register for the event, visit https://forms.gle/p8QXNuwzNHJPEaGJ8.

For more information, contact cernan@triton.edu or visit http://triton.edu/Cernan.