1972
Apollo 16 Departs For Moon
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Apollo 16,
the fifth of six U.S. lunar landing missions, is successfully launched on its
238,000-mile journey to the moon. On April 20, astronauts John W. Young and
Charles M. Duke descended to the lunar surface from Apollo 16, which
remained in orbit around the moon with a third astronaut, Thomas K. Mattingly,
in command. Young and Duke remained on the moon for nearly three days, and
spent more than 20 hours exploring the surface of Earth’s only satellite. The
two astronauts used the Lunar Rover vehicle to collect more than 200 pounds of
rock before returning to Apollo 16 on April 23. Four days later, the
three astronauts returned to Earth, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.