Charlie Duke Signed Photograph of the Phoenix Lander on Mars

Presented is a photograph of the Phoenix Lander on Mars, signed and inscribed by Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke. In the inscription, Duke shares his thoughts of exploring the red planet as the next step in space exploration. Written in black felt tip, Duke writes in full, "The challenge of Mars is going to be tremendous! To think about going there and building a station on Mars is going to be a challenging endeavor and I think we can do it. The human spirit wants to go to Mars and go out and explore. It will be another small  step for man and another giant leap for mankind! Charlie Duke, Apollo 11 Capcom, Apollo 16 Moonwalker."   The goals of the Phoenix Mars Lander were to study the history of water in the Martian arctic, search for evidence of a habitable zone, and assess the biological potential of the planet. Launched on August 4, 2007, the Phoenix landed at the northern pole of the red planet and studied the Martian soil. Phoenix completed its three-month mission in August of 2