Karl Tate says:
I was pleased to see your entry showing the little figurine that was deposited on the Moon. There are also various medallions and souvenirs which have been placed by the various Apollo astronauts.Perhaps the most poignant personal artifact left on the lunar surface was a Polaroid photograph, deposited by Charlie Duke on Apollo 16. According to NASA the picture was “taken by Loudy Benjamin, is shrink-wrapped and contains a message on the back which reads ‘This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth. Landed on the Moon, April 1972.’ Underneath the message are the signatures of his wife and kids. (NASA Photo AS16-117-18841.)”
Reader comment:
Karl adds:
Markus Mehring has an essay on this photo at Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, along with a rectifed closeup version of the picture. And here’s Duke’s photo in context with the other photos on the same Hasselblad roll.
