The first was placed by Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke in 1972. The second family portrait, ours, landed successfully on the moon today, a half-century later. SpaceX launched the first commercial lunar lander success: Nova-C from Intuitive Machines in Houston. Surface images to come. The spacecraft photos below are real, yet surreal…
Charlie Duke explained his original photo drop in ’72: “Just to get the kids excited about what dad was going to do, I said ‘Would y’all like to go to the moon with me? We can take a picture of the family and so the whole family can go to the moon.’” He took a photo of the photo on the lunar surface… “ just to show the kids that I really did leave it on the moon.”
1) on the launch mount on the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9:
2) On its way to the moon, looking back at our precious blue marble:
3) In lunar orbit, yesterday: 
Back in 1972, the futurist and sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke poignantly predicted that “an age may come when Apollo is the only thing by which people remember the United States.” 
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