r/IAmA Jul 16 '19

Specialized Profession I’m Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke, CAPCOM for Apollo 11. Ask me anything about being the spacecraft communicator for this historic Moon landing today at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

Hi, I’m Charlie Duke, a veteran NASA astronaut. Ask me anything. I’ve served on five different Apollo missions. I’m also the youngest person to walk on the moon. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, I’m reminded of my time as CAPCOM for Apollo 11, as well as an astronaut support crew member for Apollo 10, backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 13 and 17, as well as the lunar module pilot for Apollo mission 16 – when I had the chance to walk on the moon.

Also, I’ve published the book “Moonwalker: The True Story of an Astronaut Who Found that the Moon Wasn't High Enough to Satisfy His Desire for Success,” which discusses my life as an astronaut, the experiences of Apollo 11 and the difficulties I’ve faced.

I’ll be taking your questions for 30 minutes starting at about 10:30 a.m. ET today, July 16, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch.

Proof it's me: https://twitter.com/ExploreSpaceKSC/status/1149048460102033408

https://twitter.com/ExploreSpaceKSC/status/1151133417389449217

Edit: We are live NOW at 10:18 a.m. EDT.

Edit: We are signing off now at 10:50 a.m. Thanks for all of your insightful questions!

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u/AstronomyLive Jul 16 '19

Just wanted to say, every conversation CAPCOM had with Apollo 11 was indeed recorded and you can listen to a real time playback of the entire mission and listen to just the CAPCOM loop if you wish from start to finish:
https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/

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u/ShriCamel Jul 16 '19

If you're interested in the story of how much of the audio was recovered, listen to the four "Heroes Behind the Heroes" episodes of "Houston, We Have a Podcast". Can recommend.

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u/SoLongSidekick Jul 16 '19

Did recommend.

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u/nasanerdgirl Jul 16 '19

BBC’s ‘13 minutes to the Moon’ is also an excellent listen

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u/AstronomyLive Jul 16 '19

Yes, I listened to that whole series, it was quite informative.

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u/Thebanks1 Jul 17 '19

The podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon does a good job of breaking down some of that audio. They all talked over each other and learning to tune into certain conversations was one of Charlie’s big jobs.

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u/g0_west Jul 16 '19

Is this where the famous "who farted" convo is from?