Meet the Duke family. Charles Moss and Dorothy and their two sons, Charles junior and Thomas. Note how they’re all smiling. Maybe they knew the fate of this photo. Or maybe they were just having a fun day. Whatever the reason in 1972, when Charles Moss Duke landed on the moon as pilot of Apollo 16, he decided to gift the moon a photo of his family. And there it sits to this day, undisturbed in the Descartes Highlands. A more poignant symbol of human endeavor than any flag could ever be.

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