The moon didn’t change him

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, July 22nd.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: exploring the unknown.

JOHN F. KENNEDY: I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

APOLLO 11: Two, one, zero … liftoff, we have a liftoff!

NEIL ARMSTRONG: Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed.

CHARLIE DUKE: Roger Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.

In the race to space, NASA’s Apollo program landed the first men on the moon in 1969. Over the next three years, twelve astronauts made the long journey. Only four are still living today.

REICHARD: WORLD’s Emma Eicher spoke with one of them.

EMMA EICHER: The moon changes people.

When astronaut James Irwin landed in 1971, he felt the presence of God.

JAMES IRWIN: Gentlemen, I can well imagine that a foreign planet must be a weird thing to see. Oh boy. It’s beautiful out here.

Something similar happened to Apollo 14 pilot Edgar Mitchell. He said he felt the “oneness” of the universe.

Other astronauts have claimed spiritual moments in space. The phenomenon even has a name: the overview effect.

But when astronaut Charlie Duke made the pilgrimage in 1972, the overview effect didn’t affect him. At all.

CHARLIE DUKE: Usually the question comes, how did this change your life? Going to the moon? And my response, I said, Well, that didn't really change my life, but let me tell you what did.

Charlie grew up in the Carolinas and attended a Baptist church with his family.

But he didn’t read the Bible much. He didn’t pray much either.

Not even when he strapped into the cockpit of Apollo 16, NASA’s fifth lunar mission. Charlie was 36, the youngest lunar module pilot ever. Sitting beside him, Commander Ken Mattingly and Command module pilot John Young ticked down the seconds to launch.

AUDIO: [Countdown]

Charlie’s wife, Dotty and their two sons watched the blastoff at Cape Canaveral. Dotty was nervous, but her husband’s dream was coming true. And she had her own hopes pinned on this journey:

DOTTY: I was struggling in our marriage. I was struggling in our marriage before he went to the moon, but when he was selected to be an astronaut, then was it just, ‘okay. We'll support this when he gets back from the moon, then we can really work on our relationship.’

Vibrations shuddered through the spacecraft.

AUDIO: Ten, nine … we have ignitions start … and we have a liftoff!

AUDIO: [Rocket blasting off]

They shot into orbit. And light shone into the cockpit.

CHARLIE: Into my window floats the earth, about 20,000 miles away, and there’s this jewel just suspended up there. It was just really beautiful. And it was the blue of the oceans, the white of the snow and the clouds and the brown of the land … the blackness of space, you don't see the stars when the sun's shining in space. You can see the Moon, the Sun and the Earth.

Three days later, they approached the moon. Charlie helped navigate the Lunar Module Orion to safe ground. When they touched down, he shouted:

AUDIO: ‘Old Orion is finally here, Houston, fantastic!’

CHARLIE: I’m screaming ‘Old Orion is finally here, Houston, fantastic!’ at the top of my lungs. [laughing]

The crew explored the Descartes Highlands, rambling up Stone Mountain in a moon buggy.

AUDIO: [Radio chatter between Young and Duke on the rover/collecting rocks, laughing, joking]

DUKE: We are really going up a hill, I’ll tell ya. Wow, what a place, what a view! Isn’t it John?

YOUNG: It’s absolutely unreal.

They also collected rock samples at the North Ray crater to bring back to earth.

AUDIO: [Radio chatter] It’s really some crater…

Then, after 71 hours, the crew got ready to go home.

DOTTY: Even went to church the day they lifted off from the moon. I went to church that morning and prayed that they'd come home safely.

But in the back of Dotty’s mind, she didn’t know whether God was real. And when Charlie got back, Dotty didn’t thank God. She thanked NASA.

Back on Earth, a looming question hung in the air …

CHARLIE: How do you top a flight to the Moon? I climbed the top of the ladder.

Charlie was mission control for Apollo 11, helping Neil Armstrong land the lunar module. He knew Buzz Aldrin. He rubbed shoulders with all those guys.

But he’d have to take his eyes off the stars, because waiting for him at home were more earthly problems.

DOTTY: It was hard being there, not so much that he was gone all the time, but his heart was gone all the time …

While Charlie was up there, Dotty thought things down here would finally get better.

DOTTY: I had put all my hopes on well, when he comes back from the moon, he's done this, then we can start focusing on our marriage.

But that didn’t happen.

DOTTY: So he comes back from the moon and I could tell he hadn't changed at all.

Dotty tried to find meaning in other ways. She worked at church more and took other jobs. She started studying life philosophies.

DOTTY: I'd come to the conclusion there wasn't an answer to life, and there wouldn't be anything here that would fulfill me and make me happy. And so I thought of suicide.

Then, Dotty went to a church event where people shared their testimonies. They said Jesus had changed their lives.

DOTTY: I thought in my mind, well, okay, I've tried this, this, this, this, well, I haven't tried Jesus. So I should give it a try before I kill myself.

She started praying and for the first time in a long time, she felt joy. Finally, she believed.

Charlie wondered at her transformation. He didn’t really understand it.

CHARLIE: Things were getting better in our marriage and relationship, and I liked it.

Dotty waited for God to reveal himself to Charlie. A friend invited them to a weekend Bible study marathon.

It was called, “Walk Through the Bible.” They studied the scriptures from beginning to end. And when it was over …

CHARLIE: We're sitting in our car ready to go home, and I just looked over at Dotty. I said, you know, I believe all that's true. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And I don't think I remember saying, ‘come into my life,’ but it was just an admittance, a confession, that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And when I said that, I experienced the peace of God for the very first time in my life.

Charlie and Dotty Duke at their home Screenshot of a video interview with WORLD

Nowadays, when someone asks him about the moon, Charlie uses the opportunity to point to something else above us.

CHARLIE: Being an astronaut, Moon Walker… that didn't change my life. What changed my life is Jesus. I walked on the moon three days, but I walk with Jesus forever.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Eicher.

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