Spaceflight

VIDEO: Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden talks exclusively to Flight

By Rob Coppinger

Al Worden, selected along with 18 others by NASA in April 1966 to become an astronaut, was an Apollo 9 support crew member, was the Apollo 12 backup command module pilot, the Apollo 15 command module pilot and he spoke exclusively to Flightglobal at the Autographica event in London on 12 October.

During Apollo 15 the crew were the first to use a lunar roving vehicle, the first to use a lunar surface navigation device, mounted on the rover, Rover-1, and Worden made the first extra-vehicular activity from a command module during its trans-Earth coast phase of its flight, staying outside the spacecraft for 38min. To date it is still the most distant EVA from the Earth.

Apollo 15, which lasted from 26 July to 7 August 1971, was the fourth manned lunar landing mission and Worden's crew members, mission commander David Scott and lunar module pilot James Irwin, were the first to visit and explore the Moon's Hadley Rille and Apennene Mountains, which are located on the southeast edge of the sea of rains.

See the interview video below and watch Flightglobal's other exclusive video interviews with Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan and Apollo 12 lunar module pilot Al Bean