I just received the Apollo 16 rock scoop, brought back from the Moon, and saved by LM Pilot Charlie Duke for 50 years.

“We decided that this would be a great souvenir to bring back. This is the most important and rarest item that was brought back from the Moon.” — from this video, with archival footage of the scoop in use, including the support it provided to bring back the largest moon rock collected throughout the entire Apollo program.

He carried this scoop on the Lunar Rover and used it extensively to dig, trench and collect lunar rock samples across the lunar surface for three days. I started my space collection with a focus on Apollo 16, and this is an incredible addition.

When I started collecting, it was a bit ambiguous as to the proper ownership of these critical Apollo mission artifacts, smuggled back from the Moon, contrary to protocol, and left in the possession of the Apollo astronauts. It took an act of Congress, during the Obama Administration, to establish that they belong to the astronauts, free and clear. I have since collected a piece of every lunar module that has been on the surface of the moon, all of which were meant to be left behind to be lost forever. But on every mission, the astronauts decided to bring back meaningful mementos from these heroic machines, transfer them through the hatch to the Command Module with the moon rocks, and bring them back to Earth, to keep them as significant memories of their mission for the rest of their lives.

Duke is one of only four moon walkers still alive. I will be visiting him to talk about the flown Apollo 16 artifacts that I have collected (EVA1 Cuff Checklist, LM COAS, A7L Spacesuit Bioharness, moon rock manifest sheet, PPK, utility light cord, LM orbit monitor chart and other flown documents) to add his stories to the curation of their heroic past.

What questions would you suggest that I ask him?