A family photograph found on the moon’s surface has been sitting there for over 40 years.
In 1972, during his journey there, Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke placed the picture in a plastic folder and left it on the lunar surface.
The photo features him alongside his wife Dottie and their two sons, Charles and Tom, and was seemingly meant for any intelligent beings that might encounter it.
On the reverse side of the photograph, he inscribed: “This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth. Landed on the Moon, April 1972.”
The image surfaced when a photograph taken by Mr. Duke was found in the Project Apollo Image Archive in the United States.
Robert Jacobs, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for communications, stated, “Many astronauts left some form of personal keepsake.”
“This particular item represents a moment of humanity, and for Charlie, it highlighted what truly matters—his family.”
Mr. Duke, now 77, was only 36 at the time of his lunar adventure.
