Fifty years ago—on April 16, 1972—Apollo 16 astronauts Charlie Duke, Ken Mattingly, and John Young blasted off into space on NASA’s fifth crewed mission to land on the moon and explore its surface. Future Country Music Hall of Fame members Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed, and Porter Wagoner filled two sixty-minute audiocassettes with music and remarks just for the astronauts’ mission. Astronaut Charles Duke is pictured here along with one of the cas

On April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 launched to the moon! Apollo 16 was NASA's fifth lunar landing and the penultimate mission of the entire Apollo program. Discover more space history 👉 https://trib.al/38rKcgh Three NASA astronauts were on board: John Young, the commander, Ken Mattingly, the command module pilot, and Charlie Duke, the lunar module pilot. They lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn V rocket and spent three days cruising to the moon. After orbiting the moon for about a day, Y