NASA will honor former astronaut Charles Duke for his involvement in the U.S. space program with the presentation of the Ambassador of Exploration Award at 10 a.m. EDT Monday, May 8 at the Admiral Farragut Academy, St. Petersburg, Fla. The event is open to the media and public.
NASA is presenting the Ambassador of Exploration Award to the 38 astronauts and other key individuals who participated in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs for realizing America’s vision of space exploration from 1961 to 1972.
The award is a small sample of lunar material encased in Lucite and mounted for public display. The material is part of the 842 pounds of samples brought back to Earth during the six Apollo lunar expeditions from 1969 to 1972.
Duke’s award will be displayed at the Admiral Farragut Academy, 501 Park Street North, St. Petersburg. For event, academy and media access information, contact Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Linkner at: (727) 343-3678.
Duke was selected as an astronaut in 1966, while serving as a U.S. Air Force jet pilot. He was a member of the Apollo 16 lunar expedition crew. Along with John Young, the fifth lunar landing team spent a record 71 hours and 14 minutes on the moon’s surface. While command module pilot Thomas Mattingly orbited the moon, Duke and Young collected approximately 213 pounds of rock and soil samples, set up a remote observatory and the first lunar surface cosmic ray detector. Duke logged approximately 265 hours in space; more than 21 hours during extra vehicular activity. He retired from NASA and the Air Force as a brigadier general. For Duke’s astronaut biography, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/duke-cm.html
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