Ronald Evans (astronaut) Ronald Evans (astronaut) Ronald Ellwin Evans Jr. (November 10, 1933 – April 7, 1990), (Capt, USN), was an American naval officer and aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut, also one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. Evans was selected as an astronaut by NASA as part of Astronaut Group 5 in 1966 and made his first and only flight into space as Command Module Pilot aboard Apollo 17 in 1972, the last manned mission to the Moon to date, with Commander Eugene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt. During the flight, he orbited
Apollo 17 out to the Moon, back to Earth, and in lunar orbit. The Apollo 17 crew conducted an experiment, also conducted on Apollo 16, with the objective of linking these light flashes with cosmic rays. As part of an experiment conducted by NASA and the University of Houston, one astronaut wore a device that recorded the time, strength, and path of high-energy atomic particles that penetrated the device. Analysis of the results concluded that the evidence supported the hypothesis that the flashes occurred when charged particles travelled through the retina in the eye. Apollo 17 was the only lunar surface expedition