# A Long Voyage to the Moon: The Life of Naval Aviator and Apollo 17 Astronaut Ron Evans - Hardcover

by **Geoffrey Bowman** (Author), **Jack Lousma** (Foreword by)

As command module pilot of _Apollo 17_, the last crewed flight to the moon, Ron Evans combined precision flying and painstaking geological observation with moments of delight and enthusiasm. On his way to the launchpad, he literally jumped for joy in his spacesuit. Emerging from the command module to conduct his crucial spacewalk, he exclaimed, "Hot diggity dog!" and waved a greeting to his family. As a patriotic American in charge of command module _America_, Evans was nicknamed "Captain America" by his fellow crew members.

Born in 1933 in St. Francis, Kansas, Evans distinguished himself academically and athletically in school, earned degrees in electrical engineering and aeronautical engineering, and became a naval aviator and a combat flight instructor. He was one of the few astronauts who served in combat during the Vietnam War, flying more than a hundred missions off the deck of the USS _Ticonderoga_, the same aircraft carrier that would recover him and his fellow astronauts after the splashdown of _Apollo 17_.

Evans's astronaut career spans the Apollo missions and beyond. He served on the support crews for _1_, _7_, and _11_ and on the _Apollo 14_ backup crew before being selected for _Apollo 17_ and flying on the final moon mission in 1972. He next trained with Soviet cosmonauts as backup command module pilot for the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission and carried out early work on the space shuttle program. Evans then left NASA to pursue a business career. He died suddenly in 1990 at the age of fifty-six.  

### Author Biography

**Geoffrey Bowman** is a retired litigation lawyer living with his wife in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A sometime glider pilot, he is a fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and has contributed to the society's _Spaceflight_ magazine. He is a regular contributor on spaceflight to the quarterly magazine of the Irish Astronomical Association, of which he is a member. **Jack Lousma** is a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, former naval aviator, NASA astronaut, and politician. He was a member of the second crew on the _Skylab_ space station in 1973 and commanded the third space shuttle flight in 1982.

**Number of Pages:** 432

**Dimensions:** 1.5 x 9.2 x 8 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** November 01, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 36.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 36.95 USD | In stock |

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- A Long Voyage to the Moon: The Life of Naval Aviator and Apollo 17 Astronaut Ron Evans - Hardcover

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