India has become the fourth country to reach the moon. Besides, India became the first country to reach the South Pole through the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Whether India can send humans to the moon or not, humans have already gone to the moon 5 decades ago.
The first astronaut to reach the moon was Neil Armstrong. But do you know an entire family has also gone to the moon? This is the family of astronaut Charles Duke, who stepped on the moon on April 20 through the Apollo 16 mission.
When Charles Duke went to the moon, he was 36 years old. He was the youngest person to walk on the moon. But his success did not end there. He also took his family to the moon. But not really; he took his family’s photo there, still lying on the moon’s surface. Behind this picture, Charles had written, ‘This picture is of the family of astronaut Charles Duke, who came from Earth and went to the moon on April 20, 1972.’
Why Left The Picture
On the far left in this photo is his eldest son, Charles Duke-III, who was then seven years old. His younger son, Thomas Duke, is in red, then five years old. Also in the photo are the Duke and his wife, Dorothy Meade Claiborne. He said that he always planned to leave a photograph on the lunar surface. He said that by dropping this picture, I wanted to show the children that I had reached the moon and left something there.
Charles Duke Took The Picture
Duke was away from his family while training for the Apollo missions. Duke said that the children were very excited about my work. He would ask me what I was doing; then I would tell him that we were going to the moon. Duke said that then it occurred to him that he could reach the moon with his family through a photograph. It has been more than 50 years since he went to the moon. But his picture is still visible on the surface. However, Duke admits that his photo will no longer be safe due to the terrible temperature of the moon.
