Ret. U.S. Air Force Col. and NASA astronaut Al Worden, who was the command module pilot on Apollo 15 in 1971, will be Space Day’s keynote speaker at 5 p.m. on October 6 at the EAA Aviation Museum.
Prior to his NASA selection in 1966, Worden attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, before being commissioned with the Air Force and learning to fly fighters, piloting F-86Ds, F-102s, and F-106s, among others. He then attended the University of Michigan, earning a master’s degree in astronautical/aeronautical engineering and instrumentation engineering. Following graduation from Michigan, Worden spent some time with the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, flying various British jets, before coming back to the U.S. and beginning a stint at Edwards Air Force Base, where he flew the F-104 and instructed students.
In 1966, Worden was one of 19 people selected for NASA astronaut training. After months in the classroom, he was assigned to be part of the support crew for Apollo 9, and was responsible for the docking system. He was then backup command module pilot for Apollo 12. Finally, after years in Houston, Worden was selected for a primary crew, going to space with Apollo 15, which flew from July 26 to August 7, 1971. Apollo 15, which is notable for its scientific focus once it reached the moon, was the first to use a scientific instrument module bay, the first to use the lunar rover, and placed the largest-ever payloads into orbit around Earth and the moon. While companion crewmembers David Scott and Jim Irwin were on the moon’s surface, Worden was still in the command module in lunar orbit. He set a record for being the most isolated person ever, as he was more than 2,000 miles away from any other human beings.
As a former fighter pilot, Worden was pretty used to the experience of being alone, so that never bothered him. Plus, he was pretty busy up in the command module, taking photos of the moon’s surface for geologic study.
“That was the best part of the flight for me,” Worden said. “I was trained as a fighter pilot and I was pretty used to being by myself in a flying machine. The fact that you’re that far away from Earth wasn’t really much of a factor. I just enjoyed flying that machine by myself. Also, after four-and-a-half days with those two guys in a very, very small spacecraft, I was kind of glad to get rid of them for a while. I worked about 20 hours a day [while in lunar orbit]. On the surface, their whole objective is to pick up every rock of a different color type of thing. There’s a lot of science involved in what rocks to pick up, but basically they’re focused on getting the right type of rocks to bring back for analysis. But in lunar orbit, we had a scientific instrument module. I had two cameras. One was a high-resolution camera, the other was a mapping camera. I photographed about 25 percent of the moon’s surface. … I worked about 20 hours a day; I’d maybe get four hours of sleep a night. I was very comfortable with that. In space you don’t need a lot of sleep because you’re not really stressing the body physically because it’s so easy to live in space.”
On the return trip to Earth, Worden performed the first deep space EVA (extravehicular activity), collecting the film from the cameras used to photograph the moon from lunar orbit. With thousands of photos taken from orbit and about 170 pounds of lunar surface material collected, Apollo 15 accomplished exactly what it was intended to.
“In essence, we were the most scientific program,” Worden said. “After we trained on the flight systems for Apollo 12, then we really focused on the science we were going to do. The three of us were very scientifically oriented. We were really looking to see what we could do when we got there, we weren’t just interested in getting there. Everybody talks about flying to the moon and they tend to ignore what you do when you get there because getting there is so important. We looked at it the other way around. Getting there was just a transportation device that put us in a position where we could do the science.”
A speech by Alyssa Carson, who is working to be in position for a crewmember spot on the first manned mission to Mars, will precede Worden’s keynote at 3 p.m.
Alyssa, EAA 1213645, is only 17 years old but has her eyes set on becoming an astrobiologist on the first manned spaceflight to Mars. After a Nickelodeon cartoon sparked her interest in space, Alyssa began attending space camps, going to her first in Huntsville, Alabama, when she was seven years old. Since then, Alyssa has attended space camps across the U.S., in Canada, and in Turkey. She’s also taken part in the NASA Passport to Explore Space program and Project PoSSUM, which is accredited through Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and trains students to become citizen scientist-astronauts.
The next steps for Alyssa in her journey to become an astronaut are to attain her pilot certificate, attend college (with the goal of earning a Ph.D.), and build up more work experience in the field of astrobiology. At that point, she can apply to become an astronaut. Alyssa hopes to be among a select group of astronauts in consideration for a manned mission to Mars, whenever that might occur, and isn’t necessarily committed to becoming an astronaut through NASA. She’ll consider any organization that’s looking to fly to Mars.
“I’ve never necessarily secured myself to going with one agency,” Alyssa said. “I’ve always been interested in going with whoever is going to Mars. If a private company is jumping up and saying that they’re getting ready or they have their rocket built or whatever, then I would definitely consider applying with them as well.”
Despite their differences in age and experience, Worden and Alyssa will have a very similar message when they speak at Space Day. Both speakers want to encourage kids and young adults to get excited about the space program and concentrate their studies on science, technology, engineering, and math.
“I definitely really love talking to kids and inspiring them in any way I can because I think it’s super important for kids to realize what’s going on in the space program, what has happened before their generation, and what the next steps are and the different steps they can actually get involved with,” Alyssa said. “Also telling them to find a dream and find a goal and never give up on it and never let anyone take their dreams away from them. Hopefully getting kids interested in going into a STEM career, but definitely getting them to find their own passions and their own dreams.”
Worden has a similar message on the importance of STEM education. “The most important thing we can do as a country is to promote STEM education,” he said. “Science, technology, engineering, math. That’s the most critical thing that we can do. We’ve got to get these young people interested in the math, science, and technology again. If we’re going to keep our leading role in space in the world, we’ve got to have the people that will do it. These young people coming up are the ones that are going to have to do that.”