Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden Passes Away (nasa.gov) 21
"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.
A Slashdot reader 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."
"Al was an American hero whose achievements in space and on Earth will never be forgotten," tweeted NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
A Slashdot reader 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."
Thank You Al Worden... (Score:2, Offtopic)
...For showing us the benefits of serif fonts. Sans-serif fonts make it impossible to distinguish between an uppercase 'I' and a lowercase 'L'. If we type a string of letter that alternate between uppercase 'I' and a lowercase 'L' we end up with IlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIl and we can't even tell which are the 'I's and which are the 'L's.
Now, because of this absurdity of font design, you, Al Worden, have been mistaken for being an Artificial Intelligence. After seeing so many AI articles on Slashdot, I suspec
Re: (Score:2)
It's the euphemism threadmill. (Score:2)
Retarded and cripple used to be normal medical terms.
But morons believe something stops meaning what it means, if you are using different words to say the exact same thing.
Try saying the most horrible things in the most p.c. ways, and watch SJWs squirm like and eel and suffer. It's fun! :)
And if they just "find" something pulled in by its hairs in their desperation, jump on the first case of them not using the most insane p.c. words that they will still accept.
From then on, avoid saying much else than what
Re: (Score:3)
"It’s the context that makes them good or bad. The context. That makes them good or bad. For instance, you take the word “N.....” There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word “N.....” in and of itself. It’s the racist asshole who’s using it that you ought to be concerned about. We don’t care when Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy say it.
Why? Because we know they’re not racist. They’re N......!"
--George Carlin again.
I have this feeling I can get thro
Re: (Score:2)
"[...]thanks to our fear of death in this country I won’t have to die. I’ll ‘pass away. Or I’ll 'expire', like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they’ll call it a ‘terminal episode.’ The insurance company will refer to it as ‘negative patient care outcome.’ And if it’s the result of malpractice they’ll say it was a ‘therapeutic misadventure."
--George Carlin on euphemisms.
Am I the only one who read "Astronaut AI Worden"? (Score:1)
Where do I register for "AI" stories PTSD?
last call for alcohol (Score:2)
The alcohol that you drink is not the same as the alcohol used in hand sanitizer
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Another hero gone (Score:5, Informative)
Of the 23 people who went to the moon only 11 are left now. Soon there will be no one left alive who has ever been to another place in the universe, and we'll all be the poorer for it.
Oblig xkcd (Score:3)
Oblig xkcd [xkcd.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Al Warden is not in that graph though. It only counts the people who actually landed on the moon, not those who stayed in the command module. But yeah, still a pretty good chance that'll they'll all expire before we send anyone else.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I know. I'm just like to post it to remind people how far we've fallen as a species.
When did we stop trying harder? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, in June more time will have passed since Mercury 7 took off than there had been time between the Wright Flyer and Mercury 7.
Do we really only improve ourselves when we're fighting all-or-nothing wars?
Apollo Heros are dying (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
R.I.P. Al, and condolences to your family and friends.