Jennifer Medlicott
An Apollo 16 astronaut has revealed how a photo of a family portrait ended up sitting on the moon for more than half a century.
Astronaut Charles Duke, who served as a Lunar Module pilot, took off for Apollo 16 on April 16 1972. Four days later, Duke became the youngest person to walk on the moon, aged just 36 at the time.
And it turns out that walking on the moon wasn’t the only thing Duke did on the lunar surface all those years ago - he actually left a personal mark on it too.
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After landing on the moon on April 20, 1972, Duke made a point of placing a photo of him, his wife Dorothy and his two sons, Charles Duke III and Thomas Duke. The photo shows a seriously 70s-coded family unit, and has continued to sit there ever since.
And in a touching addition, Duke wrote on the back of the photo: “This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972.”
Explaining why he left the photo behind on the lunar surface, Charles told Business Insider: “I’d always planned to leave it on the moon.”
Duke said that the act was symbolic due to the amount of time he had to spend away from his kids during his Apollo astronaut training. He would train in Florida, but his family was stationed in Houston. So, in an effort to include his kids, he told them he’d bring them to the moon with him (AKA his kids gained some serious bragging rights for the next century).
Duke continued: “I said 'Would y'all like to go to the moon with me? We can take a picture of the family and so the whole family can go to the moon’.
“So when I dropped it, it was just to show the kids that I really did leave it on the moon.”
While the photo's memory lives on, having been featured in countless books since, chances are its physical condition today is a little less pristine.
Duke explained that due to the incredible temperatures the moon can reach and the many years that have passed since, the photo itself is likely faded now.
And given the image is too small for lunar satellites to pick up, it’s unlikely we’ll find out for sure its condition anytime soon.
Regardless, the gesture remains totally heartwarming.