Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 3, 2021
Charles Duke (born October 3, 1935) is a former astronaut, United States Air Force (USAF) officer and test pilot. As the lunar module pilot of Apollo 16 in 1972, he became (and remains) the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon. A 1957 graduate of the United States Naval Academy who joined the USAF, Duke completed his advanced flight training at Moody Air Force Base, and became a fighter pilot. He graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School in September 1965, and stayed on as an instructor. In April 1966, he was one of nineteen men selected for NASA's fifth group of astronauts. As a CAPCOM for Apollo 11, the first crewed landing on the Moon, in July 1969, his distinctive Southern drawl became familiar to audiences around the world. Duke was backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 13. On the Apollo 16 mission, Duke and John Young landed at the Descartes Highlands and conducted three excursions. He retired from NASA in 1976, and from the USAF in 1986 with the rank of brigadier general. (Full article...)