“In April 1972, at the age of 36, Duke became the 10th and youngest man to walk on the Moon,” Air & Space Forces Magazine writes, and in 2026 WRDW reported that “Duke remains the youngest person ever to walk on the moon.” His flight, Apollo 16, “was launched at 12:54 Eastern Standard Time (17:54 UTC) on April 16, 1972,” as Wikipedia puts it.
“When Duke was training to be an Apollo astronaut, he spent most of his time in Florida. But his family was stationed in Houston. As a result, the children didn’t get to see much of their father during that time,” Business Insider wrote. “Our boys were young at the time,” Duke told Hope 103.2. “One was almost five, and one was just turning seven.” “So just to get the kids excited about what dad was going to do, I said ‘Would y’all like to go to the moon with me?’” he told Business Insider. “We can take a picture of the family and so the whole family can go to the moon.”
It was, Duke told Texas Public Radio, “a picture of my family that we had taken in my backyard the month before the flight,” and Wikipedia says it was “taken by NASA photographer Ludy Benjamin.” “On the back of the photo Duke wrote: ‘This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972,’” Business Insider reported, and, Duke says, “we all signed it.”
At the end of his third and last moonwalk, on April 23, 1972, “Charlie places a photo of the Duke Family on the surface and takes three photos,” NASA’s Apollo Lunar Surface Journal records. “And so I dropped it on the moon and took a picture of the picture,” Duke told Texas Public Radio. “I’d always planned to leave it on the moon,” he told Business Insider.
“Shrink wrap doesn’t turn out too well in those temperatures. It looked OK when I dropped it, but I never looked at it again and I would imagine it’s all faded out by now,” he said, and Air & Space Forces Magazine says “the shrink-wrapped Duke family photograph will have quickly curled up and its contents bleached.” Still, it “remains on the moon to this day,” Business Insider wrote, though “there is no way to determine just how faded the photo is because it’s too small for lunar satellites to spot.” As Duke put it: “We said, ‘well, let’s go to the moon as a family,’ and the only way to do that is in a photograph.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He left his whole family on the Moon, in a photo, but they never left Earth. NASA’s Apollo Lunar Surface Journal: “Charlie put a picture of the Duke family – Charlie, Dotty, and sons Charles and Tom – on the surface and took several pictures of it.” Business Insider: “he snapped a photo of this family portrait of him, his two sons, and his wife, which remains on the moon to this day.” 13
- His name is Charlie Duke. Wikipedia: Charles M. Duke Jr., the lunar module pilot of Apollo 16. 8
- In April 1972, Apollo 16 took him to the Moon. Wikipedia: “When Apollo 16 was launched at 12:54 Eastern Standard Time (17:54 UTC) on April 16, 1972.” 8
- At 36, he was the youngest moonwalker ever. Air & Space Forces Magazine: “in April 1972, at the age of 36, Duke became the 10th and youngest man to walk on the Moon.” Business Insider: “He was 36 at the time and is the youngest human in history to ever walk on the lunar surface.” WRDW (July 21, 2026): “Duke remains the youngest person ever to walk on the moon.” 637
- While he trained, his two boys barely saw him. Business Insider: “When Duke was training to be an Apollo astronaut, he spent most of his time in Florida. But his family was stationed in Houston. As a result, the children didn’t get to see much of their father during that time.” 3
- Charles was seven, and Tom was almost five. Duke (Hope 103.2): “Our boys were young at the time. One was almost five, and one was just turning seven.” Business Insider: his oldest son “had just turned seven,” and his youngest “was five.” 53
- So he asked them, “Would y’all like to go to the moon with me?” Duke (Business Insider): “So just to get the kids excited about what dad was going to do, 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.” 3
- The month before launch, they posed in the backyard. Duke (Texas Public Radio): “a picture of my family that we had taken in my backyard the month before the flight.” Duke (Hope 103.2): “we decided to take a photo in our backyard and of our family, the four of us.” Wikipedia: “taken by NASA photographer Ludy Benjamin.” 458
- On the back, he wrote that this was the family of astronaut Charlie Duke, from planet Earth. Business Insider: “On the back of the photo Duke wrote: ‘This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972.’” Duke (Hope 103.2): “This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth, who landed on the moon on the 20th of April, 1972.” 35
- And they all signed it. Duke (Texas Public Radio): “and we all signed it.” Wikipedia: “signed and thumb printed by Duke’s family.” 48
- On his last moonwalk, he dropped it in the dust and took a picture of the picture. NASA’s Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (EVA-3 close-out): “At about this time, Charlie places a photo of the Duke Family on the surface and takes three photos.” Duke (Texas Public Radio): “And so I dropped it on the moon and took a picture of the picture.” Air & Space Forces Magazine: “Following their third and final ‘Extravehicular Activity,’ when Duke and mission Commander John Young were safely back in the vicinity of the lunar module, Duke deposited the family portrait on the lunar surface and photographed it in the dust.” 246
- Then he flew home without it. Business Insider: “which remains on the moon to this day.” Duke (Business Insider): “I’d always planned to leave it on the moon.” 3
- He guesses it’s faded out by now. Duke (Business Insider): “Shrink wrap doesn’t turn out too well in those temperatures. It looked OK when I dropped it, but I never looked at it again and I would imagine it’s all faded out by now.” Air & Space Forces Magazine: “the shrink-wrapped Duke family photograph will have quickly curled up and its contents bleached.” 36
- But it’s still up there, where he left it. Business Insider: “which remains on the moon to this day”; “there is no way to determine just how faded the photo is because it’s too small for lunar satellites to spot.” 3
- It was the only way they could all go to the Moon together. Duke (Texas Public Radio): “We said, ‘well, let’s go to the moon as a family,’ and the only way to do that is in a photograph.” Duke (Business Insider): “so the whole family can go to the moon.” 43
Sources
- Apollo 16 Image Library NASA Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
- Apollo 16: EVA-3 Close-out NASA Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
- Apollo 16 astronaut left a family portrait on the moon (Jessica Orwig, October 2015) Business Insider
- New Braunfels resident and former astronaut talks about the Apollo 16 mission (Norma Martinez, April 4, 2017) Texas Public Radio
- Charlie Duke, 10th man on the Moon: Hope Breakfast interview (recorded 2012) Hope 103.2
- Airman on the Moon (Andy Saunders, 2022) Air & Space Forces Magazine
- South Carolina astronaut Charlie Duke reflects on the Apollo 16 Moon landing (July 21, 2026) WRDW
- Charles Duke Wikipedia
Notes
The words on the back: Duke has given them several ways: “This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972” (Business Insider, and the same in his Hope 103.2 interview), “this is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke who landed on the moon in April 1972” (Texas Public Radio), and “This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth. Landed on the Moon, April 1972” (Air & Space Forces Magazine; Wikipedia similar). The Short uses only the opening words that two of his own tellings share, “this is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke, from planet Earth.” The note gives April 20, the landing date in Houston; in UTC the landing was on April 21.
Who wrote it: Business Insider says “Duke wrote”; Duke himself says “we had written” and “we all signed it.” The Short says he wrote it, and they all signed it.
The boys’ ages: Business Insider, Air & Space Forces Magazine and Duke on WRDW say Tom was five; Duke on Hope 103.2 says “almost five,” and Wikipedia’s dates make him four, nearly five. The Short says “almost five.”
When he left it: NASA’s Apollo Lunar Surface Journal puts it in the close-out of EVA-3, his third and last moonwalk, on April 23, 1972, and Air & Space Forces Magazine says it came after that moonwalk, back near the lunar module. The Short says “on his last moonwalk.”
Is it still there? Nobody can check: the photo is too small for lunar satellites to spot (Business Insider), and Duke and Air & Space Forces Magazine both say it has probably faded or curled. The Short says only that he guesses it’s faded out by now.
Left out: the small copy of the photo he planned to send back to the Moon on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander (Air & Space Forces Magazine), and his life after Apollo.
Charlie Duke is alive. Only NASA’s record and what he has said in public are used. His family appear only as the Short and NASA’s journal name them, in the 1972 portrait, and nothing here goes into their private lives.
Pictures: all are NASA photos, in the public domain. Every picture of the family print is one of the frames Duke took of it on the Moon at the end of his last moonwalk, April 23, 1972: AS16-117-18839 and AS16-117-18841 in Project Apollo Archive scans of the NASA film, and NASA’s own scan of AS16-117-18841. The print is the backyard portrait by NASA photographer Ludy Benjamin, of Charlie, Dotty, Charles and Tom; no free photo shows the family on Earth or the back of the print. Duke is in his official NASA portrait, September 21, 1971; with the Apollo 16 prime crew, Mattingly, Young and Duke, January 12, 1972; at the rim of Plum crater on his first moonwalk, April 21, 1972, photographed by John Young; at a boulder next to House Rock on his last moonwalk, April 23, 1972; and at NASA Headquarters on July 20, 2009 (Paul E. Alers). Young and Duke are on a geology training trip near Taos, New Mexico, in 1971 (the photo doesn’t say which man is which). The launch is Apollo 16 lifting off on April 16, 1972; the Earth is seen rising over the Moon from lunar orbit on April 19, 1972, and as a crescent as the crew headed home (levels corrected by us; nothing added or removed). The other people in these photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
All the photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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