Charles Duke

For other people named Charles Duke, seeCharles Dukes, 1st Baron DukestonandCharles Sumner Duke.

Charles Moss Duke Jr.(born October 3, 1935) is an American formerastronaut,United States Air Force(USAF) officer andtest pilot.AsLunar Modulepilot ofApollo 16in 1972, he became thetenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon,at age 36 years and 201 days.

Charles Duke
Duke in September 1971
Born	Charles Moss Duke Jr. (1935-10-03)October 3, 1935 Charlotte, North Carolina,U.S.
Education	United States Naval Academy(BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MS)
Awards	Air Force Distinguished Service Medal(2) Legion of Merit NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Space career
NASA astronaut
Rank	Brigadier General,USAF
Time in space	11d 1h 51m
Selection	NASA Group 5 (1966)
TotalEVAs	3
Total EVA time	21h 38m
Missions	Apollo 16
Mission insignia
Retirement	January 1, 1976
Website	Official website

A 1957 graduate of theUnited States Naval Academy,Duke joined the USAF and completed advanced flight training on theF-86 SabreatMoody Air Force Basein Georgia, where he was a distinguished graduate. After completion of this training, Duke served three years as a fighter pilot with the526th Fighter-Interceptor SquadronatRamstein Air BaseinWest Germany.After graduating from theAerospace Research Pilot Schoolin September 1965, he stayed on as an instructor teaching control systems and flying in theF-101 Voodoo,F-104 Starfighter,andT-33 Shooting Star.

In April 1966, Duke was one of nineteen men selected forNASA'sfifth astronaut group.In 1969, he was a member of the astronaut support crew forApollo 10.He served asCAPCOMforApollo 11,the first crewed landing on the Moon. His distinctiveSouthern drawlbecame familiar to audiences around the world, as the voice of Mission Control concerned by the long landing that almost expended all of theLunar ModuleEagledescent stage's propellant. Duke's first words to the Apollo 11 crew on the surface of the Moon were: "Roger, Twank...Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot!"

Duke was backup Lunar Module pilot onApollo 13.Shortly before the mission, he caughtrubella(German measles) from a friend's child and inadvertently exposed the prime crew to the disease. AsKen Mattinglyhad no natural immunity to the disease, he was replaced as command module pilot byJack Swigert.Mattingly was reassigned as command module pilot of Duke's flight, Apollo 16. On this mission, Duke andJohn Younglanded at theDescartes Highlands,and conducted threeextravehicular activities(EVAs). He served as backup Lunar Module pilot forApollo 17.Duke retired from NASA on January 1, 1976.

Following his retirement from NASA, Duke entered theAir Force Reserveand served as a mobilization augmentee to the Commander, USAF Basic Military Training Center, and to the Commander, USAF Recruiting Service. He graduated from theIndustrial College of the Armed Forcesin 1978. He was promoted tobrigadier generalin 1979, and retired in June 1986. He has logged 4,147 hours' flying time, of which 3,632 hours were in jet aircraft, and 265 hours were in space, including 21 hours and 38 minutes of EVA.

Early life and education

Charles Moss Duke Jr. was born inCharlotte, North Carolina,on October 3, 1935,the son of Charles Moss Duke, an insurance salesman, and his wife Willie CatherinenéeWaters, who worked as a buyer forBest & Co.He was followed six minutes later by his identical twin brother William Waters (Bill) Duke.His mother traced her ancestry back to Colonel Philemon Waters, who fought in theAmerican Revolutionary War.

After theJapanese attack on Pearl Harboron December 7, 1941, brought the United States intoWorld War II,his father volunteered to join the Navy, and was assigned toNaval Air Station North IslandinCalifornia.The family moved to California to join him, but after a year he was shipped out to the South Pacific, and Willie took the boys toJohnston, South Carolina,where her mother lived.His father returned from the South Pacific in 1944, and was stationed atNaval Air Station Daytona Beach,so the family moved there. In 1946, after the war ended, they settled inLancaster, South Carolina,where his father sold insurance, and his mother ran a dress shop.A sister, Elizabeth (Betsy), was born in 1949.

As a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman in 1957

As a boy, Duke and his brother Bill made model aircraft. Acongenital heart defectcaused Bill to drop out of strenuous sports, and eventually inspired him to pursue a career in medicine, butgolfwas a sport that they enjoyed together.Duke was active in theBoy Scouts of Americaand earned its highest rank,Eagle Scoutin 1946.He attendedLancaster High School.Duke decided that he would like to pursue a military career. Since his father had served in the Navy, he wanted to go to theUnited States Naval AcademyinAnnapolis, Maryland.

As a first step, Duke went to see his localcongressman,James P. Richards,who lived in Lancaster. Richards said that he would be pleased to give Duke his nomination, as a local boy. Richards advised Duke that he would still need to pass the entrance examination, and recommended that he attend a militaryprep school.Duke and his parents accepted this advice, and chose theAdmiral Farragut AcademyinSt. Petersburg, Florida,for his final two years of schooling. Duke sat the examination for Annapolis in the middle of hissenioryear, and soon after received a letter informing him that he had passed, and had been accepted into the class of 1957. TheLancaster Newsran his picture on the front page along with the announcement of his acceptance. He graduated from Farragut asvaledictorianand president of the senior class in 1953.

Duke entered the Naval Academy in June 1953. He was no athlete, but played golf for the academy team. During a two-month summer cruise to Europe on theescort carrierUSSSiboney,he suffered from seasickness, and began questioning his decision to join the Navy. On the other hand, he greatly enjoyed a familiarization flight in anN3Nseaplane, and began thinking of a career in aviation. TheUnited States Air Force Academyhad just been established and would not graduate its first class until 1959, so up to a quarter of the Annapolis class were permitted to volunteer for theUnited States Air Force.In fact, more than a quarter of the class of 1957 did so, and names were drawn from a hat. At his commissioning physical, Duke was shocked to find that he had a minorastigmatismin his right eye, which precluded him from becoming anaval aviator,but the Air Force said that it would still take him. He received aBachelor of Sciencedegree in naval sciences in June 1957, and was commissioned as asecond lieutenantin the Air Force.

Air Force

In July 1957, Duke, along with the other graduates of Annapolis andWest Pointwho had chosen the Air Force, reported toMaxwell Air Force BaseinMontgomery, Alabama,for two weeks' orientation. He was then sent toSpence Air Force BaseinMoultrie, Georgia,for primary flight training. The first three months involved classwork and training with theT-34 Mentor,while the next three were with theT-28 Trojan;both were propeller-driven aircraft. For the next phase of his training, he went toWebb Air Force BaseinBig Spring, Texas,in March 1958 for training with theT-33 Shooting Star,a jet aircraft. He graduated near the top of his class, and received hiswingsand a certificate identifying him as a distinguished graduate, which gave him a choice of assignments. He chose to become a fighter pilot. He completed six months' advanced training on theF-86 Sabreaircraft atMoody Air Force BaseinValdosta, Georgia,where he was also a distinguished graduate.

ARPS Class 64-C. Duke is in the back row, third from the left.

Once again, Duke had his choice of assignments, and chose the526th Fighter-Interceptor SquadronatRamstein Air BaseinWest Germany.This was at the height of theCold War,and tensions ran high, especially during theBerlin Crisis of 1961.Duke chose the assignment precisely because it was the front line. Four of the 526th's F-86 (and laterF-102 Delta Dagger)fighter-interceptorswere always on alert, ready to scramble and intercept aircraft crossingthe borderfromEast Germany.

As his three-year tour of duty in Europe came to an end, Duke considered that his best career option was to further his education, something that the USAF was encouraging. He applied to studyaeronautical engineeringatNorth Carolina State University,but this was not available. Instead, he was offered a place at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) in itsMaster of Sciencedegree course inaeronauticsandastronautics.He entered MIT in June 1962.

It was in Boston that he met Dotty Meade Claiborne,a graduate ofHollins Collegeand theUniversity of North Carolina,who had recently returned from a summer trip to Europe. They became engaged onChristmas Day,1962, and were married by her uncle,Randolph Claiborne,thebishopof theEpiscopal Diocese of Atlanta,in theCathedral of Saint Philip,on June 1, 1963.They went toJamaicafor their honeymoon, but came down withfood poisoning.

While he was courting Dotty, Duke's grades had slipped, and he was placed onscholastic probation,but the USAF allowed him to enroll for another term.For his dissertation, Duke teamed up with a classmate, Mike Jones, to perform statistical analysis for theProject Apolloguidance systems. As part of this work, they got to meet astronautCharles Bassett.Their work earned them an A, bringing his average up to the required B, and he was awarded his Master of Science degree in May 1964.

For his next assignment, Duke applied for the USAFAerospace Research Pilot School(ARPS), although he felt his chances of admission were slim given that he only barely met the minimum qualification. Nonetheless, orders came through for him to attend class 64-C, which commenced in August 1964 atEdwards Air Force Basein California. The commandant at the time wasChuck Yeager,and Duke's twelve-member class includedSpence M. Armstrong,Al Worden,Stuart RoosaandHank Hartsfield.Peter Hoag topped the class; Duke tied for second place.After graduating from ARPS in September 1965, Duke stayed on as an instructor teaching control systems and flying in theF-101 Voodoo,F-104 Starfighter,and T-33 Shooting Star aircraft.While he was stationed at Edwards, his first child, Charles Moss Duke III, was born at the base hospital in March 1965.

NASA

Selection and training

Main article:NASA Astronaut Group 5

On September 10, 1965,NASAannounced that it was recruiting afifth group of astronauts.Duke spotted a front-page article in theLos Angeles Times,and realized that he met all the requirements. He went to see Yeager and the deputy commandant,ColonelRobert Buchanan, who informed him that there were two astronaut selections in progress: one for NASA, and one for the USAF'sManned Orbiting Laboratory(MOL) program.Nominations to NASA had to come through Air Force channels, so it got to pre-screen them. Buchanan told Duke that he could apply for both programs, but if he did, MOL would take him. Duke applied only to NASA, as did Roosa and Worden;Hartsfield applied for both and was taken by MOL.

Astronaut geology training. Duke (center) talks to geologist David Wones (second left)

Duke made the list of 44 finalists selected to undergo medical examinations atBrooks Air Force BaseatSan Antonio, Texas.He arrived there on January 26, 1966, along with two fellow aviators from Edwards,Joe EngleandBill Pogue.Psychological tests includedRorschach tests;physical ones includedencephalograms,and sessions ontreadmillsand in ahuman centrifuge.The eye problem that the Naval Academy had reported was not found.

The final stage of the selection process was an interview by the seven-member selection panel. This was chaired byDeke Slayton,with the other members being astronautsAlan Shepard,John Young,Michael CollinsandC.C. Williams,NASA test pilotWarren North,and spacecraft designerMax Faget.These were conducted over a week at theRice Hotelin Houston.In April 1966, a phone call from Slayton informed Duke that he had been selected.NASA officially announced the names of the 19 men selected on April 4, 1966.Young named the group the "Original Nineteen" in a parody of the originalMercury Sevenastronauts.

Duke and his family moved to an apartment inLeague City, Texas,but when Dotty became pregnant again, they bought a vacant lot inEl Lago, Texas,next door to astronautBill Anders.They met and befriended a young couple, Glenn and Suzanne House. Glenn was anarchitect,and he agreed to design them a house for$300.Ground was broken in February 1967, but the house was not completed before a second son, Thomas, was born in May.

Astronaut training included four months of studies covering subjects such asastronomy,orbital mechanicsand spacecraft systems.Some 30 hours of briefings were conducted on theApollo command and service module,and twelve on theApollo Lunar Module.An important feature was training ingeology,so that astronauts on the Moon would know what rocks to look out for. This training in geology included field trips to theGrand Canyonand theMeteor CraterinArizona,Philmont Scout RanchinNew Mexico,Horse Lava Tube SysteminBend, Oregon,and the ash flow in theMarathon UpliftinTexas,and other locations, includingAlaskaandHawaii.There was also jungle survival training inPanama,and desert survival training aroundReno, Nevada.Water survival training was conducted atNaval Air Station Pensacolausing theDilbert Dunker.

Once their initial training was complete, Duke and Roosa were assigned to oversee the development of theSaturn Vlaunch vehicle, as part of the Booster Branch of theAstronaut Office,headed byFrank Bormanand C.C. Williams.He was part of the Mission Control team at theKennedy Space Centerthat monitored the launch ofGemini 11on September 12, 1966, andGemini 12on November 11, 1966. His personal responsibility was theTitan IIbooster.They frequently traveled toMarshall Space Flight CenterinHuntsville, Alabama,to confer with its director,Wernher von Braun.NASA providedT-38 Talonaircraft for the astronauts' use, and like most astronauts, Duke flew at every opportunity.

Lunar Module specialist

Young (right) and Duke maneuver a training version of theLunar Roving Vehiclein a field at the Kennedy Space Center built to resemble the lunar surface.

The Nineteen were divided intocommand and service module(CSM) andLunar Module(LM) specialists. Slayton asked each of them which specialty he preferred, but made the final decision himself. Once again, Duke received his choice, and became a Lunar Module specialist.He oversaw the development of the Lunar Module propulsion systems. A major concern was theascent propulsion system,which was a critical component of the mission that had to work for the astronauts to survive.Testing at theWhite Sands Missile Rangein 1966 indicatedcombustion instability.George Low,the Apollo Spacecraft Program manager, convened a committee to review the situation, and Duke became the Astronaut Office representative on it.AlthoughBellwas confident that it could resolve the problems, NASA hiredRocketdyneto develop an alternative engine just in case. The committee ultimately decided to use Rocketdyne's injector system with Bell's engine.

In 1969, Duke became a member of the support crew forApollo 10,along with Joe Engle andJim Irwin.During ProjectsMercuryandGemini,each mission had a prime and a backup crew. For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts was added, known as the support crew. The support crew maintained the flight plan, checklists and mission ground rules, and ensured the prime and backup crews were apprised of changes. They developed procedures, especially those for emergency situations, so these were ready for when the prime and backup crews came to train in the simulators, allowing them to concentrate on practicing and mastering them.The mission commander,Tom Stafford,selected Duke for his familiarity with the LM, especially its propulsion systems.For this reason, Duke served asCAPCOMfor the LM orbit, activation, checkout, and rendezvous on Apollo 10.

It was unusual for someone to serve as CAPCOM on back-to-back missions, but for the same reason—familiarity with the LM—Neil Armstrong,the commander ofApollo 11,asked Duke to reprise his role on that mission, which included the first crewed landing on the Moon. Duke told Armstrong that he would be honored to do so.Duke's distinctiveSouthern drawlbecame familiar to audiences around the world, as the voice of a Mission Control made nervous by a long landing that almost expended all of the Lunar ModuleEagle's fuel. Duke's first words to the Apollo 11 crew on the surface of the Moon were flustered, "Roger, Twank...Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot!"

Apollo 13

Main article:Apollo 13

The Apollo 16 crew: Duke (left), John Young (center), and Ken Mattingly (right)

The next rung on the ladder after serving on a support crew was to serve on a backup crew. The pace of the early Apollo missions meant that multiple crews had to be training at the same time. Slayton developed a rotation scheme whereby the backup crew for one mission would become the prime crew for one three missions later, and then the backup for the one three missions after that. If the commander (CDR) declined the offer of another mission, the command module pilot (CMP), as the next most senior astronaut, would become the commander (CDR). Thus, the Apollo 10 crew became the backup crew forApollo 13.Tom Stafford accepted the position of actingChief of the Astronaut Office,so the CMP, John Young, stepped up to replace him as CDR;Gene Cernanremained Lunar Module pilot (LMP), andJack Swigert,a command module specialist from the Nineteen, was designated the CMP. The intention was that this crew would eventually become the prime crew forApollo 16,but Cernan disagreed with this; he wanted to command his own mission. Slayton therefore assigned Duke, who was well known to Young from Apollo 10, in Cernan's place. After Michael Collins, the CMP of Apollo 11, declined the offer of command of the backup crew ofApollo 14,Slayton gave this command to Cernan.

Full-time training for Apollo 13 commenced in July 1969,although the selection of the Apollo 13 and 14 crews was not officially announced until August 7.The prime crew for Apollo 13 consisted ofJim Lovell(CDR),Fred Haise(LMP) andKen Mattingly(CMP). The mission was originally scheduled to be flown in late 1969, but in view of the successful outcome of Apollo 11, it was postponed until March and then April 1970.Two or three weeks before the launch date, Duke contractedrubella(German measles) from Paul House, the son of Glenn and Suzanne House. The disease is highly contagious, so the NASA doctors checked the prime crew. It was found that Lovell and Haise were immune to the disease, but Mattingly was not. The decision was taken to remove Mattingly and replace him with Swigert.

The subsequent explosion on Apollo 13 greatly affected the backup crew, especially Mattingly, who felt that he should have been on board. Young, Mattingly and Duke worked in the simulators to develop emergency procedures for the crew, who were ultimately returned safely to Earth. Haise and Swigert teased Duke, calling him "Typhoid Mary".The measles incident resulted in procedures being changed; starting with Apollo 14, the crew would be quarantined for three weeks before the flight as well as afterward. In the event, only the Apollo 14 crew had to endure two periods of quarantine; with no signs of life on the Moon, the post-mission quarantine was discontinued in April 1971.

Apollo 16

Main article:Apollo 16

Duke salutes the flag

I'm proud to be an American, I'll tell you. What a program and what a place and what an experience.

Duke, saluting the U.S. flag on the surface of the Moon, April 21, 1972.

Training

Young, Mattingly and Duke were officially named as the crew of Apollo 16, the fifth lunar landing mission, on March 3, 1971.TheDescartes Highlandswere chosen as the landing site on June 3, 1971. This was the highest region on the near side of the Moon. It was believed to be volcanic in origin and mainly composed ofbasalt,based upon the tones of gray observed from Earth. It was hoped that rock samples retrieved by Apollo 16 would provide clues about the processes that formed the highlands, and perhaps even show that such processes were still active.

Training was conducted in the Lunar Module simulator, which used a TV camera and a scale model of the landing area. Other activities included driving a training version of theLunar Roving Vehicle(LRV), and collecting geological samples. A final geological field trip was made to thebig island of Hawaiiin December 1971. On the second day of the trip, Duke caughtthe flu.By New Year's Day he was so ill that he was unable to get out of bed, and asked the Astronaut Office to send someone to take him to the doctor at the Kennedy Space Center. The doctor took an X-ray that revealedpneumoniain both lungs and called an ambulance to take Duke to thePatrick Air Force Basehospital.

Duke feared that he might not recover in time for the launch, which was scheduled for March 17, 1972.The spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicle had already been rolled out toLaunch Pad 39Aon December 13.Luck was with Duke:Grummanengineers wanted more time to test the increased capacity of the LM's batteries; a fault was found with the explosive cords that separate the LM from the CSM that warranted their replacement; and a failure of a clamp in Duke's spacesuit during training required the modification of all three astronauts' suits. This caused the launch date to be postponed to the next launch window, on April 16.This proved fortunate when an error by launch pad technicians caused one of the CM's Teflon fuel tank bladders to rupture, and the entire space vehicle had to be returned to theVehicle Assembly Building.Slayton noted that "there wasn't even any discussion of replacing him; that was one of the lessons we'd learned on 13."

The astronauts went into quarantine and were allowed out only to fly T-38s for an hour a day. The day before liftoff, the Apollo Program director,Rocco Petronesaw someone he believed to be Duke around the pool at theHoliday Inn.A furious Petrone called the crew quarters demanding to know why Duke had broken quarantine. The staff's protestations that Duke was still there and had not left did not placate Petrone, and they had to track down Duke in training, who suggested that Petrone might have seen his brother Bill.When Apollo 16 was launched at 12:54Eastern Standard Time(17:54UTC) on April 16, 1972,Duke became the first twin to fly in space.

Duke on lunarEVAduring Apollo 16, April 1972

Outbound voyage

The launch was normal; the crew experienced vibration similar to that of previous crews. The first and second stages of the Saturn V performed flawlessly, and the spacecraft enteredlow Earth orbitjust under 12 minutes after liftoff. In Earth orbit, the crew faced minor technical issues, including a potential problem with theenvironmental control systemand theS-IVBthird stage's attitude control system, but these were resolved or compensated for. After 1.5 orbits, it reignited for just over five minutes, propelling the craft towards the Moon at 35,000 km/h (22,000 mph).

In lunar orbit, the crew faced a series of problems. Duke was unable to get the S-band steerable antenna on the LMOrionto move in theyaw axis,and therefore could not align it correctly. This resulted in poor communications with the ground stations, and consequently a loss of the computer uplink. This meant that Duke had to copy down 35 five-digit numbers and enter them into the computer. Correcting any mistake was a complicated procedure. Fortunately, the astronauts could still hear Mission Control clearly, although the reverse was not the case.

When Young went to activate thereaction control system,they suffered a double failure on the pressurization system.Young described this as "the worst jam I was ever in".A long debate between the astronauts and with Mission Control followed. It was the only time during the flight that Duke could recall arguing with Young.Although they could not fix the problem, they were able to work around it by shifting propellant into the ascent storage tank. None was lost; it was just moved into another tank.

The Apollo 16 Command and Service Module (CSM), as seen from the Lunar Module (LM, out of view) above terrain on the lunar farside

With the preparations finished, Young and Duke undockedOrionfrom Mattingly in the CSMCasper.Mattingly prepared to shiftCasperto a circular orbit while Young and Duke preparedOrionfor the descent to the lunar surface. At this point, during tests of the CSM's steerable rocket engine in preparation for the burn to modify the craft's orbit, a malfunction occurred in the engine's backup system, causing such severe oscillations thatCasperseemed to be shaking itself to pieces. According to mission rules,Orionshould have then re-docked withCasperin case Mission Control decided to abort the landing and useOrion's engines for the return trip to Earth. This was not done, and the two spacecraft flew on in formation.A decision to land had to be made within five orbits (about ten hours), after which the spacecraft would have drifted too far to reach the landing site.

Lunar surface

After four hours and three orbits, Mission Control determined that the malfunction could be worked around and told Young and Duke to proceed with the landing.As a result of the delay, powered descent to the lunar surface began about six hours behind schedule, and Young and Duke began their descent to the surface at an altitude 5,000 m (16,000 ft) higher than normal. At an altitude of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft), Young was able to view the landing site in its entirety.Orionlanded on theCayley Plains,270 m (886 ft) northwest of the planned landing site, at 02:23:35 UTC on April 21.

Duke became the tenth person to walk upon the surface of the Moon,following Young, who became the ninth. Apollo 16 was the first scientific expedition to inspect, survey, and sample materials and surface features in the rugged lunar highlands. In a stay of 71 hours and 14 minutes, Duke and Young conducted three excursions onto the lunar surface, during which Duke logged 20 hours and 15 minutes inextravehicular activities.These included the emplacement and activation of scientific equipment and experiments, the collection of nearly 97 kilograms (213 lb) of rock and soil samples, and the evaluation and use of the LRV over the roughest surface yet encountered on the Moon.

During their final few minutes on the surface, Duke attempted to set a lunar high jump record. He jumped about 2 feet 8 inches (0.81 m), but overbalanced, and fell over backwards on hisprimary life support system(PLSS). It could have been a fatal accident; had his suit ruptured or PLSS broken, he might have died."That ain't very smart", Young noted.

Return to Earth

Family picture Duke left on the Moon

On the way back to Earth, Duke assisted in a deep-space EVA that lasted 1 hour and 23 minutes, when Mattingly climbed out of theCasperspacecraft and retrieved film cassettes from the service module. After a journey during whichCasperhad traveled 2,238,598 kilometers (1,208,746 nmi), the Apollo 16 mission concluded with asplashdownin the Pacific Ocean at 19:45:05 UTC on April 27, and recovery by theaircraft carrierUSSTiconderoga.

Duke left two items on the Moon, both of which he photographed. The most famous is a plastic-encased photo portrait of his family taken by NASA photographer Ludy Benjamin. The reverse of the photo was signed and thumb printed by Duke's family and bore this message: "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth, who landed on the Moon on the twentieth of April 1972."

The other item was a commemorative medal issued by the Air Force, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1972. Duke was the only Air Force officer to visit the Moon that year. With the approval of theChief of Staff of the United States Air Force,GeneralJohn D. Ryan,and theSecretary of the Air Force,Robert Seamans,Duke took two silver medallions commemorating the anniversary. He left one on the Moon and donated the other to the Air Force.Today it is on display at theNational Museum of the United States Air ForceatWright-Patterson Air Force BaseinDayton, Ohio,along with a Moon rock from the Apollo 16 mission.

In the wake of theApollo 15 postal covers scandal,Slayton replaced the Apollo 15 crew as the backup for theApollo 17mission with the Apollo 16 one.Duke became the backup LMP, Young the backup commander, and Roosa the backup CMP. They went into training again in June 1972, just two months after Duke and Young had returned from the Moon. There was only a slim chance that they would be called upon to fly the mission, and in the event were not. Duke never flew in space again.He retired from NASA on January 1, 1976. He had spent 265 hours and 51 minutes in space.

Later life

Following his retirement from NASA, Duke left active duty in the USAF as a colonel, and entered theAir Force Reserve.He served as Mobilization Augmentee to the Commander,Air Force Basic Military Training Centerand to the Commander, USAF Recruiting Service.He graduated from theIndustrial College of the Armed Forcesin 1978 and was promoted tobrigadier generalthe following year.He retired in June 1986.He has logged 4,147 hours of flying time, of which 3,632 hours was in jet aircraft.

Duke had always been fond ofCoors Beer,which was only available in Texas aroundDallasandEl Pasoat the time. In 1975, he heard that the company was thinking of expanding into the rest of Texas. He formed a partnership with former Olympic basketball playerDick Boushka,and they drew up a business plan and put in a bid for the new Coors distributorship inAustin.Coors declined their bid, but offered the distributorship in San Antonio instead, which they accepted.The house in El Lago was sold, and Duke and his family moved toNew Braunfels,a community not far from San Antonio,where, as of March 2024,he and wife Dotty remain.His brother Bill died in 2011.

The Coors distributorship was very successful, but Duke became bored and frustrated with it, and decided to sell in February 1978. He and Boushka realized a handsome profit from what had become a thriving business. He joined a friend, Ken Campbell, in real estate ventures.His subsequent business ventures include being president of the Orbit Corporation from 1976 to 1978; director of the Robbins Company from 1986 to 1989 and Amherst Fiber Optics in 2000; chairman of Duke Resources from 1988 to 1993 and Texcor from 1989 to 1994, and of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation from 2011 to 2012. He was also a consultant forLockheed Martin.

In 1978, Duke became a committedborn-againChristian.Duke wrote in his autobiography that his temper, ego, single-minded devotion to work, and greed had ruined his relationship with his wife and his children, and that his marriage teetered on the verge of divorce in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with Dotty suffering fromdepressionand having consideredsuicideat one point. Duke stated that his marriage and his relationship with his children improved considerably after he committed his life toJesus,and both Duke and Dotty—who became a Christian before him—credit God with making their lives much more complete and joyful, with Duke being active in Christian ministry.The Dukes are members of Christ Our King Anglican Church, anAnglican Church in North Americacongregation in New Braunfels.

Charles Duke on stage during the first occurrence of festivalExplor'EspaceinMontrouge,France, on 6 November 2021.

Awards and honors

Duke in 2017

In 1973, Duke received anHonorary DoctorateofPhilosophyfrom theUniversity of South Carolina,an Honorary Doctorate ofHumanitiesfromFrancis Marion Universityin 1990,and an Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy fromClemson Universityin 2012.Other honors include theNASA Distinguished Service Medalin 1972,Manned Spacecraft CenterCertificate of Commendation in 1970, theAir Force Distinguished Service MedalwithOak leaf cluster,theLegion of Merit,Society of Experimental Test Pilots'Iven C. Kincheloe Awardin 1972,American Astronautical SocietyFlight Achievement Award for 1972,American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Haley Astronautics Award for 1973,Fédération Aéronautique InternationaleV. M. KomarovDiploma in 1973, and the Boy Scouts of AmericaDistinguished Eagle Scout Awardin 1975.International Olympic CommitteePresidentThomas Bachpresented the Sky is the Limit Trophy to Duke in 2018.

Duke was namedSouth CarolinaMan of the Year in 1973,inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 1973, and theInternational Space Hall of Famein 1983.He was one of 24 Apollo astronauts who were inducted into theU.S. Astronaut Hall of Famein 1997.He was inducted into the Texas Science Hall of Fame in 2000,and theNational Aviation Hall of Famein 2019.His name is inscribed onThe Astronaut Monumentin Iceland, where they conducted some of their geological training.In December 2019, he was named Texan of the Year for 2020.Asteroid26382 Charliedukewas named in his honor. The officialnaming citationwas published by theMinor Planet Centeron May 18, 2019.

Cultural depictions

Duke was the subject of the documentaryLunar Tribute,which premiered at theAmerican Museum of Natural History'sHayden Planetariumon October 20, 2017. At a panel after the screening,Neil deGrasse Tysonnoted that Duke was the youngest person to walk on the Moon. Duke responded that at age 82, he still was.He joined the Back to Space organization in 2018 as an Astronaut Consultant with the goal of inspiring through film the next generation to go to Mars.He was featured prominently in the BBC World Service Podcast,13 Minutes to the Moon,released in 2019 to mark 50 years since the Apollo 11 mission.

In 2018,country musicduo The Stryker Brothers released the song "Charlie Duke Took Country Music To The Moon", which tells the true story of how Duke brought twoaudio cassette tapesof country music to play during the Apollo 16 mission.Duke's friend Bill Bailey, adisc jockeyatHouston-area country musicradiostationKIKK,had enlisted several country stars of the time to provide personalized recordings for the astronauts. The tapes were introduced byMerle Haggard,and other artists includedPorter Wagoner,Dolly Parton,Buck Owens,Jerry Reed,Chet Atkins,andFloyd Cramer.

"The Stryker Brothers" was thestage namefor a collaboration betweenRobert Earl KeenandRandy Rogers,but the two initially kept their identities secret, with promotional material claiming that the music originated from two actual brothers who had died in a prison fire.Duke appeared in an online video asserting that he got to know the brothers as children at the home of disc jockey Bailey, and that he gave them a copy of the tapes following his return from the Moon.In reality, Duke met Rogers at an event in New Braunfels, where both men live.

Duke is a character in episode 34 of the fictional youth audio adventure series Jonathan Park. The script was based on an interview conducted with Duke by the series production team.

In the 1998 miniseriesFrom the Earth to the Moon,Duke was played byJ. Downing.

In the 2019alternate historyweb television seriesFor All Mankind,he is played by Ben Begley.

Notes

References

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• Slayton, Donald K. "Deke";Cassutt, Michael(1994).Deke! U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle.New York: Forge (St. Martin's Press).ISBN978-0-312-85503-1.OCLC29845663.
• Stafford, Thomas;Cassutt, Michael(2002).We Have Capture.Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.ISBN978-1-58834-070-2.OCLC49558824.
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Further reading

• Brown, Mick (July 20, 2019). "'I've been there'".The Telegraph Magazine.London: Daily Telegraph. pp. 48–51, 53–54.OCLC69022829.
• Chaikin, Andrew(1994).A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts.New York: Viking.ISBN978-0-670-81446-6.LCCN93048680.OCLC29548704.

External links

• Charles DukeatIMDb
• AppearancesonC-SPAN