Brig. Gen. Charlie Duke, USAF, Apollo 16

Charlie Duke attended the U.S. Naval Academy but accepted a commission into the U.S. Air Force upon graduation. After early assignments, including service near Berlin in the tumultuous days of the early 1960's, Duke was accepted as a NASA astronaut as the United States pressed on towards President Kennedy's goal of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to the earth before the end of the decade.

In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Gen. Duke walks us through his early days in the space program and his critical contributions to the development of the lunar module propulsion system. He also takes us into mission control during the momentous days of Apollo 11, during which Duke served as capcom, meaning he was the voice the astronauts heard from Earth.

Duke also tells us about contracting German measles as a member of the backup crew for Apollo 13, and how that forced a change in the primary crew. He then explains how he and the other backup crew members worked to solve the problems facing the crew after an explosion on board.

Gen. Duke then talks in detail about his April 1972 mission to the moon aboard Apollo 16. He describes the key objectives of the mission and the awesome realization that he was actually on the moon. You'll hear about the boyish stunt that almost killed him on the moon and much, much more.