Charles Duke

Apollo 16 (1972 )

Charles Moss " Charlie " Duke, Jr. ( born October 3, 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States) is a former American astronaut. He was the tenth person to walk on the moon.

Charles Duke grew up in South Carolina and studied after high school, first marine technology. The U.S. Naval Academy in 1957 awarded him a bachelor. Subsequently, he served as a fighter pilot in Germany. In 1964 he completed a course of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Masters in aeronautical engineering. In 1965 he became an instructor at the test pilot school in the U.S. Air Force.

1966 Duke was accepted into the astronaut group of NASA. He was Capcom for the first moon landing (Apollo 11) and later replacement pilot of the lunar module of Apollo 13 through his illness to rubella, the actual pilot of the command module Thomas Mattingly could not take part in the mission, as he had no antibodies in his blood and an outbreak the disease was considered likely, it did not happen.

Then he was pilot of the lunar module of Apollo 16, under the command of John Watts Young, with the additional crew member Thomas Mattingly. At the fifth manned lunar landing, he stayed in April 1972 during three excursions around 20 hours on the lunar surface free on. In the documentary " The Secrets of History II - The secrets of the moon landing", he revealed that he almost had a fatal accident on the moon. While he tried to jump up in salute, he fell away to the rear. The backpack would have this burden can hardly withstand. Duke turned at the last moment on the side to prevent the impending accident can.

Duke, who is married and has two sons, retired in December 1975 from NASA.