Charlie Duke | An Interview with Charlie Duke | NEAF Talks
Interviewed April 2021
In April 1966, Charlie Duke was one of nineteen men selected for NASA's fifth group of astronauts. In 1969, he was a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 10. He served as CAPCOM for Apollo 11, the first crewed landing on the Moon. He was assigned as lunar module pilot of Apollo 16 and in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon at age 36.
Who is Charlie Duke?
CHARLES MOSS DUKE Jr., born October 3, 1935, is a retired NASA astronaut, U.S. Air Force (USAF) officer, and test pilot. A 1957 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he joined the USAF. He completed advanced flight training on the F-86 Sabre at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, where he was a distinguished graduate. After completion of this training, Duke served three years as a fighter pilot with the 526th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany. After graduating from the Aerospace Research Pilot School in September 1965, he stayed on as an instructor teaching control systems and flying in the F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter, and T-33 Shooting Star. His distinctive Southern drawl became familiar to audiences around the world, as the voice of NASA’s Mission Control during the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. Made nervous by a long landing that almost expended all of the Lunar Module Eagle'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". Duke was a backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 13. As the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 16 Duke and John Young landed at the Descartes Highlands and conducted three extravehicular activities (EVAs). He also served as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 17. Duke retired from NASA on January 1, 1976.
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