Al Worden On The Honor Of Being An Astronaut

“Do you know what they did down on the Moon? What those guys’ primary job was? They picked up rocks and dirt. Now, myself, in lunar orbit…” 
— Al Worden, Apollo 15 CMP USAF 

Colonel Alfred Worden served as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15 – the fourth manned lunar landing mission. He also holds the record for the furthest deep-space Extravehicular Activity (EVA) (more commonly known as a spacewalk) any astronaut has ever done. He spent 38 minutes working in the vacuum of space, getting a perfect view of both his home planet and the Moon at the same time. Worden has spent, in total, 295 hours and 11 minutes in space. On top of his many accomplishments, he has authored three books: “Hello Earth! Greetings from Endeavour”, “I Want to Know About a Flight to the Moon”, and his autobiography, “Falling to Earth”. 

I, along with our photographer, Julian Leek, planned to meet with Worden for brunch on a Sunday afternoon for this interview. I arrived a little early on that day and when I walked into the restaurant, there was a framed photo of the view of Earth from the moon on the wall, signed by him. The host sat me at “his table” and let me know it was the one he likes the most. I had barely set my stuff down when I saw him walk in. Everyone working in the restaurant seemed to know him – I could tell that he was a regular. He greeted the staff with a huge smile and knew most of their names. When the waitress came to take our order, Worden suggested his usual choice. We had a delicious meal consisting of steak tidbits with eggs Benedict and great conversation before we got down to business. 

When Worden tells a story, he makes you feel like you experienced it with him. He is genuine and what struck me about him was how open he was in giving his opinion on anything and everything I asked about. No question was too personal, nothing was off limits – he had a lot to say and was wildly fun with his answers. His opinions about his crewmates and people in his life were given in a lighthearted manner, and though he was very serious about his political, scientific and professional questions, he rarely told an entire story without inserting some clever, witty joke. By the end of the interview, the muscles in my face hurt from laughing so much and so hard.

Read the entire article at RocketSTEM.