Evans was born on November 10, 1933, in St. Francis, Kansas, to parents Clarence Ellwin Evans and Marie A. Evans. He had two siblings, Larry Joe Evans and Jay Evans. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. He graduated from Highland Park High School in Topeka, Kansas, in 1951, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1956, and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1964. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Society of Sigma Xi, and Sigma Nu.
Military service
In June 1957 he completed flight training after receiving his commission as an Ensign through the Navy ROTC Program at the University of Kansas. Upon receiving his aviator wings in 1962, he was a fighter pilot with Fighter Squadron 142, serving on two aircraft carrier cruises in the Pacific Ocean, then a combat flight instructor for the F-8 aircraft with Fighter Squadron 124. From 1964 to 1966 Evans was on sea duty in the Pacific, assigned to Fighter Squadron 51, flying F-8 Crusader from the carrier. During this assignment, he completed a seven-month tour of duty flying combat missions in Vietnam War. He was with VF-51 when he was selected as an astronaut in April 1966. Evans logged 5,100 hours of flight time, including 4,600 hours in jet aircraft. on Apollo 17
NASA career
Evans was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 7 and Apollo 11 flights, and as backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo 14. Evans' only space flight was as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 17, the last scheduled U.S. crewed mission to the Moon. He was accompanied by Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. While Cernan and Schmitt landed and worked on the Moon in the Taurus–Littrow valley, Evans remained in lunar orbit on board the Command Module America, completing assigned work tasks which required visual geological observations, hand-held photography of specific targets, and the control of cameras and other highly sophisticated scientific equipment carried in the service module's SIM bay. '', an iconic photograph of Earth, is credited to the three crewmen of Apollo 17. On the way back to Earth, Evans completed a one-hour, six-minute extravehicular activity, successfully retrieving three camera cassettes and completing a personal inspection of the equipment bay area. He logged 301 hours and 51 minutes in space, 1 hour and 6 minutes of which were spent in extravehicular activity. He holds the record of most time spent in lunar orbit: six days and four hours. Evans was later backup Command Module Pilot for the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project mission. Evans retired from the U.S. Navy as Captain on April 30, 1976, with 21 years of service, and remained active as a NASA astronaut involved in the development of NASA's Space Shuttle program. He served as a member of the operations and training group within the Astronaut Office, responsible for launch and ascent phases of the Space Shuttle flight program.
Later years
Evans retired from NASA in March 1977 to pursue a career in the coal industry. Later he worked with Western American Energy Corporation in Scottsdale, Arizona, and was Director of Space Systems Marketing for Sperry Flight Systems. He died in his sleep of a heart attack in Scottsdale, Arizona, on April 7, 1990, and was survived by his widow Jan; his daughter, Jaime D. Evans ; and his son, Jon P. Evans.
