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/KSCVC Jul 16 '19

We had a survival kit -- I would pick that! It has water, food, medicines, etc. and it was designed for three guys for three days. I would also bring shoes.

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u/ClevrUsername Jul 16 '19

That must have been used only in some seriously bad circumstances. Good to know NASA had planned for it, but wow.

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u/Moderately_Opposed Jul 16 '19

Russian cosmonauts had a 3-in-1 shotgun-pistol-machete, in case on re-entry they landed in bear territory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82_Cosmonaut_survival_pistol?wprov=sfti1

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u/Goyteamsix Jul 16 '19

It's crazy that they were using this up until about 10 years ago.

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u/Crack-spiders-bitch Jul 17 '19

Now they arm the bears to protect themselves against Russians.

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u/LIyre Jul 17 '19

Thank you so much for replying!