South Carolina BAMFs - Gen. Charles M. Duke

Charlie Duke on the moon. Image courtesy of NASA.

    

     Forty years ago this month South Carolina native Charles M. Duke WALKED ON THE MOON. If that is not very definition of bad ass, I don't know what is.  His FOOTSTEPS are still on the moon! I mean, I really shouldn't have to say anything further to prove his BAMFness.

But I will.

Charles Duke on CAPCOM during Apollo 11's moon landing.
Image courtesy of NASA.

    
     Charles M. Duke attended school in Lancaster, SC and went on to receive a bachelor of science degree from the US Naval Academy in 1957. He served as an instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilot school before learning he had been selected as an astronaut in 1966. As part of the Apollo program, Duke served as support crew for the successful  Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon. In fact, he was actually CAPCOM (capsule communicator) during the moon landing. So that voice you hear from mission control communicating with Neil Armstrong during the landing? The person that Armstrong was speaking directly to when he said the now famous, "the eagle has landed"? Freaking Charlie Duke! He was also the back-up lunar module pilot for Apollo 13 and was part of the NASA support crew that helped bring the Apollo 13 crew home safely after that mission experienced life threatening problems.

Click play to hear Duke communicate with

 Armstrong as Apollo 11 lands on the moon. 

Saturn V rocket blasting off.

      On April 16, 1972 Charles Duke joined his fellow Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Thomas K. Mattingly II on the fifth manned lunar landing mission. Duke, Young and Mattingly were catapulted into deep space strapped on top of a Saturn V rocket, which to this day is the most powerful rocket ever built.* It was taller than a 36 story building (58ft taller than the Statue of Liberty!) and burned a whopping 4.7 million pounds of propellant in the first 2 and half minutes after launch, alone. Just stop and think about that for a minute. The most powerful rocket ever built by Man, it had so much power they could have sat a Boeing 737 aircraft on top and launched it to the moon. And those BAMFs sat on top of it and rode it into space. I mean, what did you do today? Cause I bet you didn't do that.

Charles Duke and the lunar roving vehicle (LRV).
Original image courtesy of NASA.

    
     Four days after the launch Apollo 16 mission commander, John Young, and lunar module pilot, Charles Duke, touched down in the Descartes region of the lunar highlands. With his first steps out of the lunar module Duke became one of only 12 people IN THE HISTORY OF THE ENTIRE WORLD to step foot on the moon**. As if it that isn't cool enough, Duke and Young got to drive around the lunar surface in a MOON BUGGY (real name: lunar roving vehicle or LRV). All together the two astronauts spent a total of 71 hours on the moon where they collected over 200 pounds rock and soil samples. Before returning to the command module, Duke took a moment to leave a photograph of his family on the lunar surface. The picture was signed by his wife and children and still remains on the moon today.

Astronauts Charles Duke and John Young pose with the

American flag on the moon.Video courtesy of NASA.

     After returning safely to Earth, Charles Duke served as a back-up lunar module pilot for Apollo 17 before retiring from NASA in 1975. He currently lives with his family in Texas.

Duke's moon suit on display at the SC State Museum.

      You can see a full rundown of Charlie Duke's many accomplishments HERE. Plus, the South Carolina State Museum has a number of great Apollo 16 objects currently on exhibit, including the suit Duke wore while on the moon and one of the moon rocks he collected.

     I'd also like to state for the record that we have numerous statues and memorials throughout the state dedicated to some pretty terrible people (I'm looking at you Ben Tillman and 'omgdontevengetmestarted' J. Marion Sims) but where is our Charlie Duke statue? How come we have a school named after this hideous excuse for a person and not one of the 12 men who WALKED ON THE MOON? That is some serious bullsh*t, y'all. I mean, if your kids were going on a field trip to the State House would you rather they see a bunch of statues dedicated to slave holding racists or a statue commemorating someone from their state who WALKED ON THE MOON. I'm just saying.***



     Now it is time to rate Gen. Duke on his level of bad assery! Let's sum up: he was support for the Apollo 11 moon landing, he was one of many amazing NASA staffers who helped save the crew of the Apollo 13 and, oh yeah, he WALKED ON THE MOON.  So, to absolutely no surprise, on a scale of 1-5 Grimke Sisters, Charlie Duke goes all out and gets the full 5!

* To be exact, the Saturn V is the most powerful rocket ever built and made operational. Apparently the Russians built a slightly larger rocket but it was never used.

** If you take into account the fact that the Earth is over 4 billion years old, it is even more amazing to realize that Duke is one of only 12 men to EVER walk on the moon.

*** Obviously, I'll be totally embarrassed if someone tells me there are actually a bunch of Duke statues (and schools) around the state but my googling seems to suggest otherwise.