APOLLO 16 CREW PATCH LONGEST LUNAR SURFACE TIME YOUNG MATTINGLY DUKE

APOLLO 16 CREW PATCH LONGEST LUNAR SURFACE TIME YOUNG MATTINGLY DUKE

Mint condition 4" EMBROIDERED PATCH

Apollo 16 set new records for time spent on the lunar surface, time spent on lunar-surface EVAs, samples recovered from the Moon and number of photos taken. The mission succeeded with nine out of 10 experiments on the lunar surface and 15 from lunar orbit, and with numerous biological experiments and engineering trials and demonstrations. And it disproved what had been the prevailing hypothesis about the central lunar highlands.

During the return trip to Earth, Mattingly conducted a spacewalk to retrieve film cassettes from the Scientific Instrument Module bay at the rear of the service module. While outside the spacecraft, he set up a biological experiment with the Microbial Ecology Evaluation Device, which was used only on this mission.

The command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 27, 1972 after a mission elapsed time of 265 hours, 51 minutes, 5 seconds. The splashdown point was 215 miles (346 kilometers) southeast of Christmas Island and 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga.

This was the fourth spaceflight for Young, who had flown on Gemini 3 and 10 and on Apollo 10. It was the first for Duke and Mattingly.