Charles Moss Duke Jr. (born October 3, 1935) is an American former astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force officer and test pilot. As Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon.
Duke has logged 4,147 hours flying time, which includes 3,632 hours in jet aircraft; and 265 hours in space, plus 20 hours and 15 minutes of extravehicular activity.
A resident of New Braunfels, Texas, he is currently chairman of the board of directors of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Duke was commissioned upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1957. Entering the U.S. Air Force, he went to Spence Air Force Base in Georgia for primary flight training, then to Webb Air Force Base in Texas for basic flying training, where he graduated with distinction in 1958 as a member of Pilot Training Class 59-B. Duke completed advanced training on the F-86 Sabre aircraft at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, where he was a distinguished graduate. After completion of this training, Duke served three years as a fighter interceptor pilot with the 526th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany.
After graduating from the Aerospace Research Pilot School in September 1965, Duke stayed on as an instructor teaching control systems and flying in the F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter, and T-33 Shooting Star aircraft.
Following his NASA retirement, Duke entered the Air Force Reserve and served as Mobilization Augmentee to the Commander, Air Force Basic Military Training Center and to the Commander, USAF Recruiting Service. He graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1978. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1979, and retired in June 1986.[1]