One of the most well-known images of an astronaut on the Moon, this remarkable portrait was taken by Charles Duke at Descartes research site (or ALSEP site, located 90 m from the LM Orion). John Young has the Hasselblad camera mounted on the remote control unit of his chest as he works with a sample bag, using the camera top as a work surface. His backpack’s antenna used for communication is visible against the dark sky of space.

[Original NASA caption for the photograph] Astronaut John W. Young, commander of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, stands at the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) deployment site during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Descartes landing site. The components of the ALSEP are in the background. The lunar surface drill is just behind and to the right of astronaut Young. The drill's rack and bore stems are to the left. The three-sensor Lunar Surface Magnetometer is beyond the rack. The dark object in the right background is the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG). Between the RTG and the drill is the Heat Flow Experiment. A part of the Central Station is at the right center edge of the picture. This photograph was taken by astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot. “We practiced all the photographic sequences that we had. Every time we put out the ALSEP in training, we would go through not only the experiments deployment but we’d go through the photo layout and sequence so we knew what to do and it was second nature.” Charles Duke (from the ALSJ mission transcript at 122:13:07 GET).

From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken (at T+122:46:09 after launch): 122:45:13 Young: Okay. Charlie, you got my camera? 122:45:15 Duke: Yeah, and it’s filthy. Get a little shovelful of that stuff. 122:45:25 Young: Gosh, Charlie, it does look like caliche. 122:45:27 Duke: Doesn’t it look like caliche? 122:45:28 Young: Yeah, but it’s just a bunch of white frags. I believe. [...] 122:45:50 Young: (To Houston) Okay, that sample of white material is going in bag 355, Houston. 122:45:55 England: Okay, bag 355. (Pause) 122:46:09 Duke: Okay, John, I got your picture.