Astronaut James Lovell, best known as the Commander of Apollo 13, died

"Captain Lovell, a former Navy test pilot, flew for some 715 hours in space, the most of any astronaut in the pioneering Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs forged by the United States as it vied with the Soviet Union to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

"He took part in two Gemini missions that orbited Earth and was one of the three astronauts aboard Apollo 8, the first spaceflight to orbit the moon, before he was chosen by NASA for Apollo 13." link

We lost a great American and we are quickly reaching a point where no person living will have been to the moon. Of the 24 men who have orbited the moon, only 5 are still alive today.

Ophiolite said:

From the Mercury program none of the original seven are alive. Only Buzz Aldrin and Dave Scott remain alive from Gemini, both also participating in Apollo. There are four futher Apollo astronauts still living: Russell “Rusty” Schweickart (Apollo 9), Fred Haise (Apollo 13), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17).

Harrison Schmitt was the first, last and only geologist to land on the moon. Aldrin, Duke and Schmitt are the only surving moon walkers.

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A minor correction, Dave Scott also walked on the moon (Apollo 15) and was even the first person to drive on the moon (Apollo 15 was the first with the Lunar Rover). It is also worth noting that Scott and Schweickart both were on the Apollo 9 mission, which tested the Lunar Lander in Earth orbit (it did not go to the moon). During that mission, as command module pilot, Scott became the last astronaut to do a solo orbit of Earth; Schweickart and James McDivitt both got in the Lunar Lander for testing, disconnecting from the Command Module.

Schweikart also should have been on Apollo 15, had normal crew rotations been followed. The issue was that Schweickart was sick during Apollo 9, found to be Space Adaption Syndrome. So, he was taken out of the normal rotation and volunteered to participate in several months of motion sickness testing, then afterward was put on the Skylab project, because of this he never had the opportunity to go to the moon. Since that time, it is found that roughly half of all astronauts have Space Adaption Syndrome. It was also found to not be related to motion sickness on Earth, there appears to be no correlation to whether a person gets motion sickness on Earth and if they have Space Adaption Syndrome.

Schweikart is the youngest of the remaining Apollo astronauts, at 89 years old (born October 25, 1935); less than a month younger than Charlie Duke (born October 3, 1935), the youngest remaining person to have walked on the moon. With Jim Lovell's death, Buzz Aldrin is now the oldest remaining person who has flown (and walked) on the moon at 95 (born January 20, 1930).

Ophiolite said:

A major correction: none of their efforts should be overlooked. I got hung up on the Apollo 9 mission, which as you noted was only in Earth orbit and quite forgot Apollo 15. Fifty years ago I would have remembered that - and probably his dog's name also.

I have an autographed copy of MoonWalker, the autobiography of Duke and his wife, signed by both of them.
The inscription reads,
" Hope you enjoy our story.
Aim high! "

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Moonwalker sounds like a book I need to read. Years ago, I read Lost Moon, which is an autobiographical account of the events of Apollo 13, as well as Jim Lovell's career. I read it years before Apollo 13 was made, which used Lost Moon as the basis for the movie. It is a major part of why I have such respect for Jim Lovell and his life. When the movie came out, the book was renamed to Apollo 13.