Andrew Davis> A collection of astronaut Charlie Duke's artifacts chronicles one of humanity's greatest adventures, and it can be found right here in the Palmetto State!

Tom Falvey> There was a wonder in getting to the moon.

There was this excitement, and the excitement is actually in these objects.

You can feel that this was on the moon, that Charlie Duke's head was inside this helmet, viewing Earth from the moon, which no one had done until we put human beings on the moon!

Davis> Ever since the days of the earliest humans we have looked up into the night sky with a sense of awe and held the desire to pioneer beyond our planet Earth.

South Carolinians are no exception when it comes to feeling that human itch to explore the far reaches of outer space.

And several South Carolinians have!

One even walked on the surface of the moon and his name is Charles Moss Duke Jr.

Apollo astronauts used a wide variety of equipment and tools during spaceflights, traveling around 240,000 miles to the moon.

After their return to Earth, some of these artifacts even made their way to South Carolina.

Welcome, everyone!

I'm your host, Andrew Davis.

Today's edition of Curiosity Trek!

will be at the South Carolina State Museum located in the capital city of Columbia.

The South Carolina State Museum proudly showcases a collection of artifacts belonging to astronaut Charlie Duke, as well as other South Carolinians who reached for the stars.

Mr.

Tom Falvey of the South Carolina State Museum joins us to unveil the story of Charlie Duke and these incredible pieces from Apollo 16.

Falvey> My name is Tom Falvey.

I'm the Director of Innovation Experiences here at the South Carolina State Museum.

Davis> Welcome to Curiosity Trek!, Tom!

Thank you for joining us!

Falvey> Thank you.

Andrew.

It's great having you here.

Davis> Now, how did Charlie Duke get involved with the space program?

Falvey> Well, even as a child, Charlie Duke loved airplanes.

He drew them on his math homework and we have a copy of that piece of paper.

It's great!

Charlie Duke was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, October 3rd, 1935.

He ended up, going to high school in Lancaster, South Carolina and claimed S.C.

as his home.

He went to the Naval Academy, and after graduating top of his class, he went into the Air Force, always wanted to fly and ended up joining in 1966, a group of 19 other astronauts and became one of the Apollo astronauts who went to the moon.

Davis> Charlie Duke was selected as a NASA astronaut at the height of the Cold War.

The United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a fierce competition to reach the moon first, called "The Space Race".

Falvey> Even in the 1950s, the Russians and the United States were putting satellites into orbit around Earth.

The first satellite, Sputnik that the Russians put in was a big concern.

People on Earth and people here in the United States could see it.

It made an audible beep that could be detectable from Earth.

And so people were really concerned that the Soviets were now, dominating space.

So the same time the United States was putting up its own sets of satellites, Ultimately, the goal was to show dominance and show dominance in space.

So the space race led to the United States trying to get to the moon first.

Davis> Although the U.S.

won the space race with Apollo 11 the Apollo program continued flights to the moon for further scientific studies.

Charlie Duke was selected to be Apollo 16's Lunar Module Pilot on March 3rd, 1971.

Apollo 16 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on April 16, 1972.

Its target?

The Cayley and Descartes Formations part of the Moon's more ancient lunar highlands.

Apollo 16 brought back the largest and heaviest moon rock to date.

Nicknamed "Big Muley".

Weighing in at 26 pounds, it is said to be around 3.97 BILLION years old.

Falvey> Well, it was the only mission that went to the highlands region of the moon.

The goal was to look at some of the formations there.

They thought that some of the early changes in the moon might have been formed because of an impact.

So they were looking at that and they were looking at the minerals of those particular rocks on the moon to see whether it had been formed by a particular impact.

They didn't find a lot different there at the Descartes Highlands that they had in some of the other sites.

They were really just a short distance from the Apollo 11 landing site.

And they didn't find a lot that they were looking for, but that was one of the big goals.

When they went up.

The mineral thing is amazing.

These guys went out to the deserts and they went and had to do all kinds of training to learn how to pick up rocks, which sounds really simple, but wearing almost 400 pounds of suit, and practicing driving in the "Ground Rover", which was the version that didn't go to the moon, of course.

They picked up 209 pounds of minerals on the moon and brought all of that back.

Really an amazing thing when you think about it.

And of course, they also set up a telescope.

The only mission to set up a telescope on the moon.

Like most Apollo missions, had some specific things they were doing that were really focused by people who had scientific interest in the moon and wanted to explore from that surface.

Davis> Now, how did the S.C.

State Museum obtain these Charlie Duke artifacts?

Falvey> Well when Charlie came back, he had a number of objects that he donated to us.

Much later, of course.

So when Charlie offered that to the State Museum to kind of preserve his legacy, he gave us a beautiful and wonderful collection of all kinds of objects that went to the moon and came back with him.

Everything we have has a certain amount of lunar regolith which is the term we use, regolith.

Of course, it can't be soil because you can't grow anything in it.

And it's really cool to think that there are things here at the State Museum that have dust on them that came from the moon.

So we have a helmet that Charlie wore on the moon.

The helmet of course, was his only way to live.

You know, there's no air on the moon, so it was sealed to the suit.

And that's where your oxygen supply came from.

The communications that you were getting in your ears obviously were in there.

And it had a very special visor system.

Clear visor, another darker visor and then a gold visor to stop some of that intense light from the sun bouncing off of the moon.

It's a really great object it does have lunar dust on it.

That was the actual helmet that Charlie wore on the moon during the Apollo 16 mission.

The cuff-checklist is a really neat object.

So we wake up, we're on the moon we need to get out and do an E.V.A.

So an E.V.A.

is extravehicular activity.

That means we're going to go walk on the moon.

The astronauts had on their cuff a little checklist of every job they're supposed to be doing.

So one was collecting rock samples, the next one of course is to do some of the scientific experiments and putting out all of the different scientific experiments.

And when I talked to Charlie, he said that most of the astronauts memorized the things that they were going to do.

They knew what their daily job was.

So they were not referring to that.

But it was a backup so that they could always have something.

It's a really great object that shows you how astronauts were kind of making sure that they knew what their assignments were for the day when they were on an E.V.A.

We also have an Omega Speedmaster watch and it's one of the most amazing objects.

The Speedmaster was an off the shelf watch that could sustain the G-forces, the pressure changes, and that's what astronauts wore on their wrists.

The flight suit is something you would typically see any pilot wear.

It doesn't look extraordinary, although it's really great to know that we have an Apollo era flight suit that Charlie Duke would have trained in during that time.

Davis> Now when museum guests come and see these artifacts from Charlie Duke what do you hope they learn or take away with them when they leave?

Falvey> I think that a lot of people have forgotten that people walk on the moon, or people don't think about the fact that human beings walked on the moon, and the amount of work and the number of people it took to get them there is really staggering.

And this happened not just in America, I mean, people were hired from other countries to produce these materials.

We have somebody who helped make grits edible in space for Charlie Duke.

He was the first person to eat grits.

And to think that there was actually a nutritionist who worked side by side with Charlie to make sure that some kind of grits were to go into space and be edible.

It's just a great thing, right?

So understanding that no matter what your talents are, that you can find a place to do something important.

I think people forget that there was a wonder in getting to the moon.

There was this excitement, and the excitement is actually in these objects.

You can look at them and you can feel that excitement.

You can feel that this was on the moon, that Charlie Duke's head was inside this helmet, viewing the moon, viewing Earth from the moon, which no one had done until we put human beings on the moon.

He was the youngest astronaut ever to walk on the moon, and probably will be until they send up the next round of folks who go up on the moon.

Davis> Well Tom, thank you for an out-of-this-world educational experience and I hope that museum visitors will be able to come and actually see these objects for themselves!

Falvey> Thank you.

Andrew.

It's been great having you here.

Davis> Take care, Tom.

Falvey> All right.

Davis> When compared to other states with heavier ties to the space race such as Florida or Texas, South Carolina may not be the first place one thinks of when it comes to authentic space flown artifacts.

But thanks to the contributions of Charlie Duke, citizens of the Palmetto State can go see these rare pieces of Apollo 16 space tech, which made the incredible journey from the Earth to the moon.

I'm Andrew Davis.

Thanks for watching and we hope you will join us on the next episode of Curiosity Trek!.