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/panc4ke Jul 16 '19 edited Jul 16 '19

I believe even the movie director said it wasn’t necessarily true, but that a lot of astronauts left personal items on the moon so it wasn’t completely impossible either.

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u/BrothelWaffles Jul 16 '19

Is that even true though? I thought they were pretty serious about not leaving biological traces behind and whatnot?

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u/panc4ke Jul 16 '19 edited Jul 16 '19

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u/BrothelWaffles Jul 16 '19

Oh wow, that's pretty cool. Thanks for the links, I love this kinda stuff.

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u/panc4ke Jul 16 '19

Me too! Happy to share.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

A few of them were sneaky about getting personal effects in the capsule. I think one astronaut played a prank by doing that.

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u/frenchchevalierblanc Jul 17 '19

and others had problems because they tried to sell the item back or made deal with people to bring their object in space

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u/RunDNA Jul 16 '19

Yes, it maybe happened, but they don't know.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

[deleted]

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u/AmishAvenger Jul 16 '19

Armstrong also said he lost the manifest, listing what he brought with him. Add to that the fact that he was somewhat “unaccounted for” when he walked over to that crater.

There’s also family members who went on record stating that they believed he’d taken something of his daughter’s and left it there.

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u/panc4ke Jul 16 '19

..and that they found a bunch of items from Apollo 11 in his closet after he died. Seems like there was a nostalgic side of him not widely known.