Remembering Apollo 15’s Al Worden
We all know the saying “never meet your heroes,” but no one warns you about having octogenarian heroes. You have far less time to know them before they’re gone. Apollo astronaut Al Worden died on March 18, 2020. I’m lucky that he was not only an amazing hero to meet, I got to know him in the last few years of his life.
Between 1968 and 1972, twenty-four men travelled to the Moon, twelve walked on its surface, and three made the journey twice. Most people can name two, maybe three or four of those men. Few, if any, can name Al Worden.
Al Worden was the command module pilot of Apollo 15, aka the guy who didn’t walk on the Moon in one of the missions most people don’t know happened. He stayed in orbit on board the Endeavour while Dave Scott and Jim Irwin explored Hadley Rille and Appennine Mountains. But he wasn’t just twiddling his thumbs waiting for his crewmates to return. His command module was the first to have a bay of science instruments and cameras. He had a lot of work to keep him busy, and during the transit back to Earth, it was Al’s job to step outside for the first ever deep space EVA and retrieve film canisters.
