Who was the youngest person to walk on the Moon during Apollo 16?
Charles Duke became the youngest human to ever walk on another world at thirty-six years old. He stepped onto the lunar surface on the 21st of April 1972.
Questions about Apollo 16
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What location did NASA select for the Apollo 16 landing site?
Scientists chose the Descartes Highlands west of Mare Nectaris because they believed it was formed by volcanic action. The mission landed between two young impact craters named North Ray and South Ray.
How long did John Young and Charles Duke spend conducting moonwalks on Apollo 16?
The pair spent seventy-one hours on the surface conducting three moonwalks that totaled over twenty hours. Their extravehicular activities lasted twenty hours and fourteen minutes in total.
Why did scientists change their theory about volcanism after studying Apollo 16 samples?
Analysis confirmed the Cayley Formation was not volcanic in nature and there was no evidence that Stone Mountain was volcanic either. Scientists realized they had been too reliant on analogues from Earth and concluded there are few if any volcanic mountains on the Moon.
When did Ken Mattingly perform a spacewalk during the return trip of Apollo 16?
Mattingly performed an eighty-three-minute spacewalk during the return trip to retrieve film cassettes from the exterior of the service module. He remained alone in the command module for 126 hours while his crewmates walked on the surface.