Apollo Astronaut Doubts Consensus Age of Moon
It started when he was told the same
moon rock had two vastly different ages
How old is the moon? Is it 4.6 billion years old, as consensus geologists insist, and as textbooks uncritically teach?
The Apollo astronauts were given extensive training in geology so that they would know what rocks on the moon were significant. This was true for Brigadier General Charles M. Duke (USAF), the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 16 who became the 10th man to walk on the moon. One of his geology trainers was Harrison Schmitt, a PhD geologist, who would fly on the final mission, Apollo 17 (see 14 Dec 2022). Apollo 16 (April 16-27, 1972) was the only mission to study the lunar highlands in the Descartes region, with its elevation 7,400 feet higher than the Sea of Tranquillity explored by Apollo 11. (Charlie Duke was also the CapCom, or capsule communicator, for Apollo 11.)
During their three extensive extra-vehicular activities (EVAs), including 16.6 miles of drives on the lunar rover, Charlie Duke and Mission Commander John Young collected 209 pounds of lunar samples.
Moonrock, by Alan Bean, depicts John Young and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) collecting lunar samples. Used by permission from Alan Bean (Apollo 12 astronaut).
On April 6, during an interview before an audience of nearly a thousand people, Duke related a strange thing that the experts said about one of the lunar rocks he collected.
I picked up a rock on the moon, and it was about the size of my hand. And on one end it dated 3.9 billion years. On this end it dated 1.6 billion years. So there was two billion years between six inches! [audience laughter]. And, something was wrong here, somewhere!
Duke went on to say that he “began to doubt a little bit,” but not to the point of disbelieving evolution. At the time, he was a non-Christian, thoroughly preoccupied with his own career success within the NASA community. It was only later, when he became a Christ follower after seeing the dramatic change in his wife Dotty’s conversion, that his earlier doubts about that rock made sense. “I became a believer, and I went from an evolutionist to a creationist.”
At age 88, Charlie Duke is the youngest of four surviving Apollo astronauts among the 12 men who walked on the moon. Another Apollo astronaut who was a young-earth creationist and Christ follower was Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin (1930-1991).
More About Charlie Duke
For a remastered video of the Apollo 16 mission on its 50th Anniversary, see this YouTube documentary. Charlie Duke left a comment under this video, calling it outstanding.
See Charlie Duke relate his memories of the Apollo 16 in a 30-minute NASA interview recorded in 2023.
See the National Air and Space Museum information about Apollo 16.
Charles and his wife Dotty now travel the world under Duke Ministry for Christ, and his sons are also involved in ministry.
Autographs of Charlie Duke and Jeff Williams obtained at ICR’s event on 6 April 2024.
It was highly significant to see this great American speaking cheerfully and willingly at an event for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), a young-earth Biblical creation ministry. Also present was Col. Jeffrey Williams, space shuttle astronaut and key assembler of the International Space Station. Williams is also a fervent Christian and creationist; see interview with Kirk Cameron on YouTube. Both were keynote speakers for ICR’s Solar Eclipse Event near Dallas, TX, on 6 April 2024, two days before the eclipse, and were also present on the day of the eclipse on 8 April.
Charlie Duke graciously signed a page from astronaut-turned-artist Alan Bean’s book Apollo: An Eyewitness Account. The painting shows Charlie Duke pushing a penetrometer into the lunar soil, which measures soil properties.