Astronauts Gene Cernan, John Young and Tom Stafford had an unenviable mission as part of Apollo 10.

Apollo 10 was the dress rehearsal mission for the first Moon landing.

Cernan and Stafford came within eight nautical miles of the lunar surface before turning back.

Young and Cernan both went back to the Moon, walking on the surface as part of Apollo 16 and 17, respectively.

Stafford made history as part of the Apollo-Soyuz program, docking with the Soviet craft during the groundbreaking cooperative mission.

Young went on to be the first commander of the Space Shuttle program for STS-1.

Cernan was the last person on the Moon.

We remember all three, and the Apollo 10 mission, for paving the way for history and then making some history of their own.