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March 21, 2020 04:34 pm

Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden Passes Away

"Former astronaut Alfred M. Worden, command module pilot on the Apollo 15 lunar landing, passed away March 18, 2020, in Texas," reports NASA.gov. His son-in-law told the New York Times Worden apparently died of a stroke. "Al was an American hero whose achievements in space and on Earth will never be forgotten," tweeted NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Slashdot reader Iwastheone shares NASA's remembrance:As command module pilot, Worden stayed in orbit while commander David Scott and lunar module pilot James B. Irwin explored the Moon's Hadley Rille and Appennine Mountains. Apollo 15's command module, dubbed Endeavour, was the first to have its own module of scientific instruments. During the flight back from the Moon, Worden retrieved film from cameras in the module during a spacewalk. Altogether, Worden logged more than 295 hours in space. "The thing that was most interesting to me was taking photographs of very faint objects with a special camera that I had on board," Worden told Smithsonian Magazine in 2011. "These objects reflect sunlight, but it's very, very weak and you can't see it from [Earth]. There are several places between the Earth and the moon that are stable equilibrium points. And if that's the case, there has to be a dust cloud there. I got pictures of that." Like other command module pilots, Worden stayed as busy as his colleagues on the surface. But he also took some time to enjoy the view. "Every time I came around the moon I went to a window and watched the Earth rise and that was pretty unique." In 1972 Worden appeared twice on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. And Mister Rogers also filmed segments at Cape Canaveral, with Worden demonstrating his space suit and later supplying answers to a list of questions from children while standing in the mission's launch room. "I asked Fred to let me take the list into space," Worden wrote in his autobiography. "I would think about them during the flight, I promised, and then answer when I returned."

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