Ronald Evans (astronaut)

Ronald Ellwin Evans Jr. (November 10, 1933 – April 7, 1990) was an American electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, officer and aviator in the United States Navy, and NASA astronaut.

As Command Module Pilot on Apollo 17 he was one of the 24 astronauts to fly to the Moon, and one of 12 people to fly to the Moon without landing.

Ronald Ellwin Evans was born on November 10, 1933, in St. Francis, Kansas, the son of Clarence Ellwin (Jim) Evans and his wife Marie Priebe.

He had two younger siblings, Larry Joe Evans and Jay Evans.

He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout.

He attended St Francis Elementary School.

His father served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Evans started his secondary education at St Francis High School, but only attended for two months before the family moved to Topeka, Kansas to seek medical treatment for his brother Larry, who was diagnosed with liver cancer.

Larry died in 1951, and his parents separated.

Evans attended Highland Park High School in Topeka, where he served on the Student Council, and was the president of the Science Club.

He was a member of the school American football team, and was an All-Conference guard.

His other brother, Dale, secured a football scholarship to Kansas State University where he played college football, and later played professionally for the Denver Broncos.

Later Dale served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the United States Marine Corps.

Evans decided to study electrical engineering at the University of Kansas.

His application was accepted, and he was offered a place starting in September 1951.

His family had little money, so in order to pay for his college education he secured a scholarship from the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC).

During the fraternities rush week he joined the Sigma Nu fraternity.

He earned extra money selling Chesterfield cigarettes, and had a cigarette vending machine installed in the Sigma Nu fraternity house.

NROTC training involved a parade for one hour each week, and during the summer break there were midshipman cruises on warships.

The first was on the battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64).

In his sophomore year there was an introduction to naval aviation at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas.

This experience inspired Evans to become a naval aviator.

The third year cruise was to Europe on the USS Gwin (DM-33), a destroyer minelayer.

In his junior year he was elected to the Sigma Tau, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi engineering honor societies.

During his final summer break he worked in a glass factory to gain general engineering experience.

In a letter dated December 12, 1955, the Navy offered Evans a commission as an ensign and designated him a student aviator.

Before becoming an astronaut, Evans graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas and joined the U.S. Navy in 1956.

After receiving his naval aviator wings, he served as a fighter pilot and flew combat missions during the Vietnam War.

He graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in June 1956.

In 1964 he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

Evans was selected as an astronaut by NASA as part of NASA Astronaut Group 5 in 1966 and made his only spaceflight as command Module pilot aboard Apollo 17 in December 1972, the last crewed mission to the Moon, with Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt.

During the flight, Evans and five mice orbited the Moon a record 75 times as his two crewmates descended to and explored the surface.

He is the last person to orbit the Moon alone and, at 147 hours and 43 minutes, holds the record for the most time spent in lunar orbit.

During Apollo 17's return flight to Earth, Evans performed an extravehicular activity (EVA) to retrieve film cassettes from the service module.

It was the third "deep space" EVA, and is the spacewalk performed at the greatest distance from any planetary body.

, it remains one of only three deep space EVAs, all made during the Apollo program's J-missions.

It was the final spacewalk of the Apollo program.

In 1975, Evans served as backup Command Module Pilot for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project mission.

Achieving the rank of captain, he retired from the Navy in 1976.

He worked on the development of the Space Shuttle before retiring from NASA in March 1977 to become a coal industry executive.