Last moonwalker to visit WA space museum

The last man to leave his footprints on the moon will open a new wing of Western Australia's Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum.

Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan

NASA astronaut Gene Cernan will open a new wing of WA's Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum. (AAP)

The last man to walk on the moon will open a new frontier of a space museum in Western Australia.

Legendary NASA astronaut Captain Gene Cernan, 82, will launch stage three of the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum in the coastal town of Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth on May 28.

The occasion, announced on Wednesday - International Star Wars day, follows similarly auspicious events in the history of the museum that is built on the old Carnarvon space station site.

Stage one was opened by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 2012, then stage two was launched by Australian astronaut Andy Thomas in 2014.

Cernan went into space three times for NASA on the Gemini 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17 missions and was the second American to walk in space.

He is the subject of the 2014 documentary The Last Man on the Moon, which will be screened at the museum on May 28 followed by an interview with Cernan.

Carnarvon Tracking Station was built in 1964 and for 11 years was the last station to communicate with NASA space capsules leaving the earth's orbit.


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Source: AAP



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