Charles Duke Speaker & Booking Information

Charles Duke is an American former astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force officer and test pilot. As Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon.

A former test pilot, Duke has logged 4,147 hours flying time, which includes 3,632 hours in jet aircraft; and 265 hours in space, plus 20 hours and 15 minutes of extravehicular activity.

A resident of New Braunfels, Texas, he is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Duke was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 3, 1935. He attended Lancaster High School in Lancaster, South Carolina, and graduated as valedictorian from Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1953. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America and earned its highest rank, Eagle Scout. Duke received a Bachelor of Science degree in Naval Sciences from the United States Naval Academy in 1957, and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964.

Duke was commissioned upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1957. Entering the U.S. Air Force, he went to Spence Air Base in Georgia for primary flight training, then to Webb Air Force Base in Texas for basic flying training, where he graduated with distinction in 1958 as a member of Pilot Training Class 59-B. Duke completed advanced training on the F-86 Sabre aircraft 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 interceptor 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, Duke stayed on as an instructor teaching control systems and flying in the F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter, and T-33 Shooting Star aircraft.

Following his NASA retirement, Duke entered the Air Force Reserve and served as Mobilization Augmentee to the Commander, Air Force Basic Military Training Center and to the Commander, USAF Recruiting Service. He graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1978. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1979, and retired in June 1986.

In April 1966, Duke was one of the 19 selected for NASA's fifth group of astronauts. In 1969, he was a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 10. He then served as CAPCOM for Apollo 11, the first landing on the Moon, where his distinctive Southern drawl became familiar to audiences around the world. As CAPCOM, he became the voice of a Mission Control 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 backup Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 13, however shortly before the mission he caught German measles from a friend's child and inadvertently exposed the prime crew to the disease. As Ken Mattingly had no natural immunity to the disease, Mattingly was then replaced as Command Module Pilot by Jack Swigert. Mattingly would be reassigned as Command Module Pilot of Duke's flight, Apollo 16.

Duke served as Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 16 in 1972 where he and John W. Young landed at the Descartes Highlands and conducted three EVAs, making Duke the tenth person to walk upon the surface of the Moon. He also served as backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17. Duke retired from NASA in December 1975.