Al Worden, American astronaut and engineer, who was the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971, sharing his experiences on the main stage at New Scientist Live 2017
Alfred Merrill "Al" Worden (born February 7, 1932), (Col, USAF, Ret.), is an American astronaut and engineer who was the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. Worden graduated from the 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, England. He has logged more than 4,000 hours flying time—which includes 2,500 hours in jets. 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
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