- Worden, Al with Francis French.
Falling to Earth.
Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2011.
ISBN 978-1-58834-309-3.
-
Al Worden (his given name is Alfred, but he has gone by “Al”
his whole life) was chosen as a NASA astronaut in April 1966, served as
backup command module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission, the second Moon
landing, and then flew to the Moon as command module pilot of
Apollo 15, the first
serious geological exploration mission. As command module
pilot, Worden did not land on the Moon but, while tending the ship in
orbit awaiting the return of his crewmates, operated a series of
scientific experiments, some derived from spy satellite technology, which
provided detailed maps of the Moon and a survey of its composition. To
retrieve the film from the mapping cameras in the service module, Worden
performed the first deep-space EVA during the return to Earth.
Growing up on a farm in rural Michigan during the first great
depression and the second World War, Worden found his inclination toward being
a loner reinforced by the self-reliance his circumstances forced upon
him. He remarks on several occasions how he found satisfaction in
working by himself and what he achieved on his own and while not
disliking the company of others, found no need to validate himself
through their opinions of him. This inner-directed drive led him to
West Point, which he viewed as the only way to escape from a career on
the farm given his family's financial circumstances, an Air Force
commission, and graduation from the Empire Test Pilots' School in
Farnborough, England under a US/UK exchange program.
For one inclined to be a loner, it would be difficult to imagine a more
ideal mission than Worden's on Apollo 15. Orbiting the Moon in the
command module Endeavour for almost three days by himself he
was, at maximum distance on the far side of the Moon, more isolated from
his two crewmates on the surface than any human has been from any other
humans before or since (subsequent Apollo missions placed the command
module in a lower lunar orbit, reducing this distance slightly). He
candidly admits how much he enjoyed being on his own in the
capacious command module, half the time entirely his own man while out
of radio contact behind the Moon, and how his joy at the successful
return of his comrades from the surface was tempered by how crowded and
messy the command module was with them, the Moon rocks they collected,
and all the grubby Moon dust clinging to their spacesuits on board.
Some Apollo astronauts found it difficult to adapt to life on Earth after
their missions. Travelling to the Moon before you turn forty is a
particularly extreme case of “peaking early”, and the
question of “What next?” can be formidable, especially
when the entire enterprise of lunar exploration was being dismantled
at its moment of triumph. Still, one should not overstate this point:
of the twenty-four astronauts who flew to the Moon, most went on to
subsequent careers you'd expect for the kind of overachievers who
become astronauts in the first place—in space exploration,
the military, business, politics, education, and even fine arts.
Few, however, fell to Earth so hard as the crew of Apollo 15. The
collapse of one of their three landing parachutes before splashdown
due to the canopy's being eroded due to a dump of reaction control
propellant might have been seen as a premonition of this, but after
the triumphal conclusion of a perfect mission, a White House reception,
an address to a joint session of Congress, and adulatory celebrations on
a round-the-world tour, it all came undone in an ugly scandal
involving, of all things,
postage stamps.
The Apollo 15 crew, like those of earlier NASA missions, had carried on
board as part of their “personal preference kits” postage
stamp covers commemorating the flight. According to Worden's account
in this book, the Apollo 15 covers were arranged by mission commander
Dave Scott, and
agreed to by Worden and lunar module pilot
Jim Irwin on
Scott's assurance that this was a routine matter which would not
affect their careers and that any sales of the covers would occur only
after their retirement from NASA and the Air Force (in which all three
were officers). When, after the flight, the covers began to come onto
the market, an ugly scandal erupted, leading to the Apollo 15 crew being
removed from flight status, and Worden and Irwin being fired from NASA with
reprimands placed in their Air Force records which would block further promotion.
Worden found himself divorced (before the Moon mission),
out of a job at NASA, and with no future in the Air Force.
Reading this book, you get the impression that this was something like
the end of Worden's life. And yet it wasn't—he went on to
complete his career in the flight division at NASA's Ames Research
Center and retire with the rank and pension of a Colonel in the U.S.
Air Force. He then served in various capacities in private sector
aerospace ventures and as chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Honestly, reading this book, you get the sense that everybody has forgotten
the stupid postage stamps except the author. If there is some kind of
redemption to be had by recounting the episode here (indeed, “Redemption”
is the title of chapter 13 of this work), then fine, but whilst reading this
account, I found myself inclined to shout, “Dude—you flew to
the Moon! Yes, you messed up and got fired—who hasn't? But
you landed on your feet and have had a wonderful life since, including
thirty years of marriage. Get over the shaggy brown ugliness of the 1970s
and enjoy the present and all the years to come!”
October 2011 