Ronald Evans

Astronaut Ronald Evans was born November 10th, 1933, in Kansas. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1956 and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1964. Evans was chosen for the support crews of Apollo 7 and Apollo 11 and as backup command module pilot for Apollo 14.

On his first journey into space, Evans served as the command module pilot for Apollo 17 moon landing mission in 1972. He was joined by spacecraft commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt. While Cernan and Schmitt visited the surface, Evans stayed in lunar orbit and conducted various science experiments and took photography of the moon’s surface.

Evans was backup command module pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Evans retired from the United States Navy in 1976 and remained active as a NASA astronaut involved in the development of the Space Shuttle Program.