What Were the Last Words Spoken on the Moon?

Forty years and one day ago, December 14 at 5:54:37 p.m. EST, humans left the moon for the last time. But how did the two men who made that departure -- taking their last small steps, their last great leaps from the lunar surface -- mark that occasion? What parting words did they leave to the moon, and to their fellow humans, and to history?

As Miles O'Brien notes in his tribute to yesterday's bittersweet anniversary, the commander of the Apollo 17 mission, Gene Cernan, had prepared a speech to mark his crew's lunar departure. It was appropriately lengthy and lofty. He delivered it like this:

As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come (but we believe no…
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