Alfred Worden

Alfred M. Worden
Worden pictured in 1971
NASA Astronaut
Nationality	American
Born	Alfred Merrill Worden (1932-02-07)February 7, 1932 Jackson, Michigan, U.S.
Died	Sugar Land, Texas, U.S.
Other occupation	Fighter pilot, test pilot
Alma mater	USMA, B.S. 1955 UMich, M.S. 1963
Rank	Colonel, USAF
Time in space	12d 07h 12m
Selection	1966 NASA Group 5
Total EVAs	1
Total EVA time	38 minutes
Missions	Apollo 15
Mission insignia	Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 25 MP
Retirement	September 1, 1975

Alfred Merrill "Al" Worden (February 7, 1932 – March 18, 2020), (Col, USAF, Ret.), was an American astronaut and engineer who was the Command Module (CM) Pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon.

After Apollo 15 reached lunar orbit, and his crewmates departed to land on the Moon, Worden spent three days alone in the CM, becoming in the process the individual who reached the remotest distance from any other human being, a distinction he still holds. He took many photographs of the Moon and operated a suite of scientific instruments that probed the Moon. During Apollo 15's return flight to Earth, Worden performed an extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, to retrieve film cassettes from cameras on the exterior of the spacecraft. It was the first "deep space" EVA in history, and as of 2021 remains the one that has taken place furthest from Earth.

After their return, the crew became involved in a controversy over postal covers they had taken to the Moon; they were reprimanded by NASA and did not fly in space again. Worden remained at NASA until 1975 at the Ames Research Center, then entered the private sector. He engaged in a variety of business activities, and had a longtime involvement with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, serving as chair of its board of directors from 2005 until 2011. He made many public appearances, promoting a renewed space program and education in the sciences, before his death in 2020.

Education

The son of Merrill and Helen Worden, he was born February 7, 1932, in Jackson, Michigan. Worden attended Dibble, Griswold, Bloomfield and East Jackson grade schools and completed his secondary education at Jackson High School.

Worden was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of First Class.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Military Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1955 and Master of Science degrees in Astronautical/Aeronautical Engineering and Instrumentation Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1963. He also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1971.

Military service

Worden graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in June 1955 and, after being commissioned in the Air Force, received flight training at Moore Air Force Base, Texas; Laredo Air Force Base, Texas; and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.

He attended Randolph Air Force Base Instrument Pilots Instructor School in 1963 and served as a pilot and armament officer from March 1957 to May 1961 with the 95th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

Prior to his arrival for duty at the Johnson Space Center, he served as an instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilots School from which he graduated in September 1965. He is also a February 1965 graduate of the Empire Test Pilots' School in Farnborough, UK.

He has logged more than 4,000 hours flying time—which includes 2,500 hours in jets.

NASA career

Main article: Apollo 15

“ "Now I know why I'm here. Not for a closer look at the Moon, but to look back at our home, the Earth." ” — About his feelings during Apollo 15.

Worden was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 9 flight and as backup Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 12 flight.

Worden served as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15, which flew from July 26 to August 7, 1971. His companions on the flight were David Scott, spacecraft commander, and James B. Irwin, Lunar Module Pilot. Apollo 15 was the fourth manned lunar landing mission and the first to visit and explore the moon's Hadley Rille and Montes Apenninus which are located on the southeast edge of the Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). Apollo 15's achievements include the largest payloads placed in earth and lunar orbits, the first scientific instrument module bay flown and operated on an Apollo spacecraft, the longest lunar surface stay time (the lunar module, Falcon, remained on ground for 66 hours and 54 minutes), the longest lunar surface EVA (Scott and Irwin logged 18 hours and 35 minutes each during three excursions onto the lunar surface), the longest distance traversed on lunar surface, the first use of the lunar roving vehicle, the first use of a lunar surface navigation device (mounted on Rover-1), the first subsatellite launched in lunar orbit, and the first EVA from a Command Module during transearth coast.

Additionally, Worden has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most isolated human being" during his time alone in the Command Module Endeavour. When the orbiting CM was at its greatest distance from Scott and Irwin in the Falcon, Worden was 2,235 miles away from any other human beings. Worden said he enjoyed his "three wonderful days in a spacecraft all by myself", including not communicating with Earth while on the far side of the Moon, because he was used to being alone as a fighter pilot.

Worden performing humanity's first deep-space EVA during Apollo 15's homeward journey

Scott and Irwin collected approximately 171 pounds of lunar surface materials on their three expeditions onto the lunar surface and Worden logged 38 minutes in extravehicular activity outside the Command Module, Endeavour. In completing his three excursions to Endeavour's scientific instrument module bay, Worden retrieved film cassettes from the panoramic and mapping cameras, performing the first deep-space EVA, and reported his personal observations of the general condition of equipment housed there. Apollo 15 concluded with a Pacific splashdown and subsequent recovery by USS Okinawa. In completing his space flight, Worden logged 295 hours and 11 minutes in space.

The astronauts were allowed to choose the design for the patch but were not allowed to put on the Roman numeral for 15. They got around this technicality by adding it to the moon's surface in the background.

During 1972–1973, Worden was Senior Aerospace Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, and from 1973 to 1975 he was chief of the Systems Study Division at Ames. Between 1972 and 1975, he made seven guest appearances on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

After retirement from NASA and active duty in 1975, Worden became President of Maris Worden Aerospace, Inc., and then became staff Vice President of BG Goodrich Aerospace in Brecksville, Ohio. Worden served as Chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation until 2011, providing scholarships to exceptional science and engineering students. Worden is the last of the Apollo astronauts to participate in the Kennedy Space Center's "Encounter with an Astronaut" program in which the public can attend a lecture by, ask questions of, and even dine with an astronaut.

In 2011, Worden's memoir Falling To Earth made the top 12 of the LA Times Bestseller list.

Stamp incident

Main article: Apollo 15 postage stamp incident

After the return of Apollo 15 to Earth, it was discovered that, without authority, the crew had taken 398 commemorative postal covers to the moon. Of these, 100 were then sold to a German stamp dealer. The profits of the sale would have been used to establish trust funds for the crew's children. Although their action was not in any way illegal, and despite the fact that NASA had turned a blind eye to similar activities on earlier flights, NASA administration decided to make an example of Scott and his crew and none of them flew in space again.

In 1982, Worden ran for the United States House of Representatives in Florida's 12th congressional district but lost the Republican primary to state senator Tom Lewis. He sold some of the postal covers to pay for debts from this unsuccessful campaign. Despite the loss, Worden has referred to the endeavour as the high point of his life, saying "I thought that was a very important thing to do. I put everything into it and lost, but that is okay."

Worden received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1971. He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1983 and 1997, respectively.

Career after NASA

File:200907300003HQ.jpg

Worden receiving NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award in 2009

After leaving the Air Force and NASA, Worden founded Alfred M. Worden, Inc., then served as the director of Energy Management Programs at the Northwood Institute in Midland, Michigan. In 1982, Worden ran for the United States House of Representatives in Florida's 12th congressional district but lost the Republican primary to state senator Tom Lewis. Despite the loss, Worden referred to his run as the high point of his life, "I thought that was a very important thing to do. I put everything into it and lost, but that is okay."

The Apollo 15 astronauts had been required to turn in, and NASA had retained, 298 of the postal covers carried aboard by Scott, as well as 61 more envelopes from the deal with Herrick; they were transferred to the National Archives in August 1973. It had been Worden's understanding that the covers would be returned once NASA's investigation was over, and in 1983 he sued the government. Believing it could not win, the government returned the covers and the 298 were divided by the three astronauts. Worden sold some of them to pay debts from his unsuccessful run for Congress.

Worden still believed other former astronauts looked at him askance because of the postal covers incident. In 1984, he began to involve himself with the Mercury Seven Foundation, set up by the original astronauts to provide scholarships for promising students in the sciences. Worden was at the time living near KSC and as the Mercury Seven aged, he and other later astronauts took on greater responsibilities. The organization's name was changed to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, and in 2005, Worden was elected to chair its board of directors. He served in that capacity until 2011.

File:Al Worden @ SXSW 2019 (46438162465).jpg

Worden in 2019

Worden held executive positions with Jet Electronics and Technology, Inc., and with B.F. Goodrich prior to his retirement from the business world in 1996. In 2011, Worden's autobiography, Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon made the top 12 of the Los Angeles Times Bestseller list. He also wrote Hello Earth: Greetings from Endeavour (1974), a collection of poetry, in 1974, and a children's book, I Want to Know About a Flight to the Moon (1974).

Personal life

Worden married Pamela Vander Beek, whom he met on a blind date while a cadet, in June 1955. The couple divorced in December 1969 just before Worden was selected to fly on Apollo 15. Worden married Jill Lee Hotchkiss in July 1982. She died on May 4, 2014. Worden has three children, Tamara Christians, Merrill Bohanning, and Alison Penczak. Alison has two children, Will and Danny. His recreational interests include bowling, water skiing, golf and racquetball.

In popular culture

In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Worden was played by Michael Raynor.

Physical description

• Weight: 160 lb (73 kg)
• Height: 5 ft 10½ in (1.79 m)
• Hair: Brown
• Eyes: Blue

Bibliography

• Hello Earth; Greetings from Endeavour Nash Publishing (1974) ISBN 0-8402-1343-3
• I Want to Know About a Flight to the Moon Doubleday; [1st ed.] edition (1974) ISBN 0-385-05837-3
• Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon with Francis French, Smithsonian Books (2011) ISBN 978-1-58834-309-3.

He wrote the poem "Apollo Lost" in response to the cutbacks in the US space program. It was set to music by Cynthia McQuillin. Other poems by Worden have been published, and some have been set to music by Dov Rosenschein.

Worden also contributed the foreword to the space history book To A Distant Day by Chris Gainor.

See also

• List of spaceflight records

External links

• Official website of Al Worden
• Worden's official NASA biography
• Astronautix biography of Alfred Worden
• Spacefacts biography of Alfred Worden
• Worden at Spaceacts
• About Alfred Worden
• Alfred Worden at the Internet Movie Database
• Worden at Encyclopedia of Science
• Worden at International Space Hall of Fame
• Episode 45 on astrotalkuk.org Interview recorded in London on May 22, 2011