Navy Captain Gene Cernan logged over 560 hours in space, including serving as pilot of Gemini IX, lunar module pilot of Apollo 10, and concluding as commander of Apollo 17, the last scheduled U.S. manned mission to the moon. In maneuvering the lunar module "Challenger" to a landing at Taurus-Littrow, located on the southeast edge of Mare Serenitatis, Cernan and fellow astronaut Jack Schmitt activated a base of operations from which they completed three highly successful excursions to the nearby craters and the Taurus mountains, making the Moon their home for over three days.