Charles Duke
Charles Moss Duke Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the 3rd of October 1935. He arrived into the world just six minutes before his identical twin brother William Waters Duke. Their mother Willie Catherine Waters traced her ancestry back to Colonel Philemon Waters who fought in the American Revolutionary War. The family moved frequently during World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941. His father joined the Navy and was assigned to Naval Air Station North Island in California. Willie took the boys to Johnston, South Carolina, where her mother lived while her husband served in the South Pacific. They settled in Lancaster, South Carolina, in 1946 after the war ended. A sister named Elizabeth was born there in 1949.
As a boy, Charles and Bill made model aircraft together. They enjoyed golf despite Bill having a congenital heart defect that caused him to drop out of strenuous sports. Charles became active in the Boy Scouts of America and earned its highest rank, Eagle Scout, in 1946. He attended Lancaster High School and decided he wanted a military career since his father had served in the Navy. He went to see his local congressman James P. Richards who lived in Lancaster. Richards agreed to give Duke his nomination as a local boy but advised him to attend a military prep school first. Duke chose the Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida for his final two years of schooling. He graduated from Farragut as valedictorian and president of the senior class in 1953.
Duke entered the United States Naval Academy in June 1953. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in naval sciences in June 1957 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. An eye problem reported at the Naval Academy precluded him from becoming a naval aviator but the Air Force said it would still take him. He reported to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, in July 1957 for orientation before primary flight training began.
His training progressed through several aircraft types including the T-34 Mentor and T-28 Trojan propeller-driven planes. He then moved to Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring, Texas, in March 1958 for jet training with the T-33 Shooting Star. He graduated near the top of his class and received wings plus a certificate identifying him as a distinguished graduate. This gave him a choice of assignments and he chose to become a fighter pilot. He completed six months' advanced training on the F-86 Sabre aircraft at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia where he was also a distinguished graduate.
He chose assignment to the 526th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany because it was the front line during the height of the Cold War. Four of the squadron's F-86 fighters were always on alert ready to scramble and intercept aircraft crossing the border from East Germany. This assignment lasted three years until tensions ran high especially during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.
On the 10th of September 1965, NASA announced that it was recruiting a fifth group of astronauts. Duke spotted a front-page article in the Los Angeles Times and realized he met all the requirements. He went to see Chuck Yeager and Colonel Robert Buchanan who informed him there were two astronaut selections in progress: one for NASA and one for the USAF's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Nominations to NASA had to come through Air Force channels so they got to pre-screen them. Buchanan told Duke that he could apply for both programs but if he did MOL would take him. Duke applied only to NASA as did Stuart Roosa and Al Worden while Hank Hartsfield applied for both and was taken by MOL.
Duke made the list of 44 finalists selected to undergo medical examinations at Brooks Air Force Base at San Antonio, Texas. He arrived there on the 26th of January 1966 along with Joe Engle and Bill Pogue. Psychological tests included Rorschach tests; physical ones included encephalograms and sessions on treadmills and in a human centrifuge. The eye problem that the Naval Academy had reported was not found during these exams. The final stage involved an interview by a seven-member selection panel chaired by Deke Slayton over a week at the Rice Hotel in Houston. In April 1966 a phone call from Slayton informed Duke that he had been selected. NASA officially announced the names of the 19 men selected on the 4th of April 1966.
Full-time training for Apollo 13 commenced in July 1969 although the selection of crews was not officially announced until August 7. Two or three weeks before the launch date Duke contracted rubella from Paul House the son of Glenn and Suzanne House. The disease is highly contagious so NASA doctors checked the prime crew immediately. It was found that Jim Lovell and Fred Haise were immune to the disease but Ken Mattingly was not. The decision was taken to remove Mattingly and replace him with Jack Swigert.
Mattingly felt deeply affected when the subsequent explosion occurred on Apollo 13 because he believed he should have been on board. Young, Mattingly and Duke worked in simulators to develop emergency procedures for the crew who were ultimately returned safely to Earth. Haise and Swigert teased Duke calling him Typhoid Mary. The measles incident resulted in procedures being changed starting with Apollo 14 where the crew would be quarantined for three weeks before the flight as well as afterward. In the event only the Apollo 14 crew had to endure two periods of quarantine since no signs of life appeared on the Moon.
Young, Mattingly and Duke were officially named as the crew of Apollo 16 the fifth lunar landing mission on the 3rd of March 1971. The Descartes Highlands were chosen as the landing site on the 3rd of June 1971. This was the highest region on the near side of the Moon believed to be volcanic in origin and mainly composed of basalt based upon tones of gray observed from Earth. It was hoped that rock samples retrieved by Apollo 16 would provide clues about processes that formed the highlands. A final geological field trip was made to Hawaii in December 1971 where Duke caught the flu and developed pneumonia requiring hospitalization at Patrick Air Force Base.
Apollo 16 launched at 12:54 Eastern Standard Time on the 16th of April 1972 making Duke the first twin to fly in space. Young and Duke undocked Orion from Mattingly in the CSM Casper and descended to the Cayley Plains northwest of their planned landing site at 02:23:35 UTC on April 21. In a stay of 71 hours and 14 minutes they conducted three excursions onto the lunar surface during which Duke logged 20 hours and 15 minutes in extravehicular activities. These included emplacement of scientific equipment collection of nearly 215 pounds of rock and soil samples and evaluation of the Lunar Roving Vehicle over the roughest surface yet encountered on the Moon.
Following his retirement from NASA Duke left active duty as a colonel and entered the Air Force Reserve. He graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1978 and was promoted to brigadier general the following year before retiring in June 1986. He had logged 4,147 hours of flying time with 3,632 hours in jet aircraft.
Duke had always been fond of Coors Beer which was available in Texas only around Dallas and El Paso at the time. In 1975 he heard that the company was thinking of expanding into the rest of Texas. He formed a partnership with former Olympic basketball player Dick Boushka and drew up a business plan for the new Coors distributorship in Austin. Coors declined their bid but offered the distributorship in San Antonio instead which they accepted. They sold their house in El Lago and moved to New Braunfels where Duke and wife Dotty remain today. The Coors distributorship was very successful but Duke became bored and frustrated deciding to sell it in February 1978. He and Boushka realized a handsome profit from what had become a thriving business.
In 1978 Duke became a committed born-again Christian. He wrote in his autobiography that his temper ego single-minded devotion to work and greed had ruined his relationship with his wife and children. His marriage teetered on the verge of divorce in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Dotty suffering from depression and having considered suicide at one point. Duke stated that his marriage and relationship with his children improved considerably after he committed his life to Jesus.
Both Duke and Dotty who became a Christian before him credit God with making their lives much more complete and joyful. Duke is active in Christian ministry as members of Christ Our King Anglican Church an Anglican Church in North America congregation in New Braunfels. He also is an active young Earth creationist believing the earth was created by God approximately six thousand years ago according to biblical accounts.
Duke received numerous awards including an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of South Carolina in 1973 and another from Clemson University in 2012. Other honors include the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1972 the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with Oak leaf cluster and the Legion of Merit. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach presented the Sky is the Limit Trophy to Duke in 2018. He was named South Carolina Man of the Year in 1973 and inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame that same year.
Asteroid 26382 Charlieduke was named in his honor with the official publication published by the Minor Planet Center on the 18th of May 2019. Duke appeared prominently in the BBC World Service Podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon released in 2019 to mark 50 years since the Apollo 11 mission. Country music duo The Stryker Brothers released a song titled Charlie Duke Took Country Music To The Moon which tells how Duke brought two audio cassette tapes of country music to play during the Apollo 16 mission. These tapes were introduced by Merle Haggard featuring artists like Porter Wagoner Dolly Parton Buck Owens Jerry Reed Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer.
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Common questions
When and where was Charles Duke born?
Charles Moss Duke Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the 3rd of October 1935.
Which Apollo mission did Charles Duke fly to the Moon?
Charles Duke flew as part of the crew for the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission which launched on the 16th of April 1972.
Why was Charles Duke replaced from the Apollo 13 crew?
NASA removed Ken Mattingly from the Apollo 13 prime crew after he contracted rubella from Charles Duke who had fallen ill with the disease two weeks before launch.
What is the significance of Charles Duke being a twin astronaut?
Charles Duke became the first twin to fly in space when he launched aboard Apollo 16 alongside his identical brother William Waters Duke who served as a support crew member.
How long did Charles Duke spend walking on the lunar surface during Apollo 16?
During three excursions onto the lunar surface Charles Duke logged 20 hours and 15 minutes in extravehicular activities while collecting rock samples and evaluating the Lunar Roving Vehicle.