SHANGHAI - Nearly 40 years since his milestone trip to the Moon, Eugene Cernan remains passionate about space.

On a visit to Shanghai, Cernan shared his experiences of space flight and discussed the importance of flight safety with Chinese pilots.

In his 20 years as a naval aviator, including 13 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Cernan made his mark with three historic space missions, including one as the lunar module pilot of Apollo XVII, the final Moon landing mission. His later best-seller The Last Man on the Moon vividly narrated his lunar experience.

Cernan said he was not a stranger in China because he had "walked throughout China" decades ago. "On my very first flight in Earth orbit, I did a spacewalk, and I walked across all of China in 15 minutes," he said.

Cernan said what impressed him most was looking back from the Moon to the Earth.

"It is awe-inspiring, it's overwhelming I came to the conclusion - it is too beautiful to have happened by accident," said Cernan.

Cernan is very confident about the future of space exploration.

"We will go back to the Moon, and I believe we will go to Mars within the next generation and a half, and we will do it as an international community," he added.

Concerning China's lunar landing plan, he said China's space program is very logical.

"I look forward to the day when they can join us with" putting people on the Moon, he told China Daily.

Having served as an astronaut, Cernan is well aware of the challenges and risks of working in the aviation industry.

"If we have a problem, we don't have the luxury of waiting until tomorrow morning to have a meeting, we have to be prepared to solve the problem immediately the time it occurs," he said.

Cernan will give a presentation on Thursday at an event organized by Canada-based aviation company Bombardier, which will discuss flight safety and what responsibilities an astronaut should take in a cabin.

Puja Mahajan, director of flight operations at Bombardier Aerospace, said the event is a first for Bombardier in Asia, and the robust development of China's aviation industry was the main reason for holding the seminar in Shanghai.

China Daily