command his own mission.

Cernan turned down the opportunity to walk on the moon 8 months earlier as Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 16 preferring to risk missing a flight altogether for the opportunity to command his own mission. Cernan was publicly critical of the decision by NASA to send a scientist - Harrison Schmitt - to the moon, a decision that meant that original Lunar Module Pilot Joe Engle never got to walk on the moon. However, in Cernan's words, he proved a capable LM Pilot.
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