Family photo of astronaut on the Moon

The youngest astronaut set foot on the Moon saved his footprint here with a photograph of the whole family.

Astronauts bring family photos to the Moon

According to The Independent, astronaut Charles Duke of the Apollo 16 set his first steps on the Moon on April 20, 1972. At that time, Duke was 36 and the youngest person in the history of the Moon.

Astronaut Charles Duke collected specimens on the surface of the Moon.(Photo: NASA).

While collecting the specimen, Duke left a portrait of his family with his wife and two sons on the ground. The picture is still on the Moon to this day. Behind the photo, Duke wrote: "This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from Earth, who set foot on the Moon on April 20, 1972".

In this family photo, Charles Duke III, 7, the oldest son of Duke, stood on the left. The boy in red is the youngest, Thomas Duke, 5 years old. Duke and his wife, Dorothy Meade Claiborne, sat in the back.

"I always harbored the intention to leave the picture on the Moon. When I dropped the photo, I just wanted to let the kids see that I actually put it on the Moon," Duke said.

More than 43 years have passed since Duke set foot on the Moon. Duke believes the photo no longer holds its original shape.

Photograph of Charles Duke's family.(Photo: Charles Duke).

"For the past 43 years, the Moon's temperature has reached more than 200 degrees Celsius in the area where we landed and reduced to nearly 0 degrees Celsius at night. Heat-shrink films do not work well under that temperature. The picture is still clear when I release it, but I never see it again and maybe the picture has completely lost color , " Duke said.

According to scientists, there is no way to determine how far the Duke family photo fades because it is too small for satellites orbiting the Moon to detect.