AstroGrams™ mission is to promote awareness of space. To make people feel part of the space program, and to celebrate, commemorate and communicate all that can be achieved in space, especially amongst the younger generations. We want to inspire people to talk about space and to think about all that can be achieved with space programs by launching their personal AstroGram! The idea of a personalized message left in space is inspired by the story of Charlie Duke's unique tribute to his family during his walk on the moon during the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Before his turn as the youngest man to ever walk on the moon, Charlie Duke had a stellar idea... Why not bring his family along? From Earth to the Moon he carried this family photo with a personal inscription on the back:
Charlie left it on the moon and no one knows how it has fared in the moon's atmosphere but the photo "was very meaningful for the family", Duke said. "In the end, that's all that matters, right?"
Charlie Duke - Astronaut, Apollo 16 and served as CAPCOM, Apollo 11, is a founding director of AstroGrams™ Inc with the goal of sharing the "human side of space exploration" with current and future generations of space enthusiasts.
Apollo 16 was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, the fifth and second-to-last to land on the Moon, and the second to land in the lunar highlands.
- Launch date: April 16, 1972
- Spacecraft: Apollo CSM-113; Apollo LM-11
- Rocket: Saturn V SA-511
- Members: Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke,
Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly
