Thanks to Jo Schirra for access to her late husband’s papers. And Wally Schirra—wherever you are—thank you for your lifelong support and friendship.
Thanks also go to my many astronaut friends who provided me with information on some of the more obscure corners of our mutual adventures. Tom Stafford has pushed me for years to write this book, and provided helpful confirmations of the closed-door politics that went on around some of the events in this story. Dick Gordon was probably my closest friend in the entire program and wrote a great foreword to this book, one more special moment in a lifelong friendship. Neil Armstrong and John Glenn provided much-valued suggestions. Special appreciation to fellow astronaut Tom Jones for his friendship and advice in getting this book published. As someone who journeyed to the moon with me in spirit, Farouk El-Baz was kind enough to make that trip with me one more time, carefully reviewing the lunar geology sections of the book. Dee O’Hara was a great support at the time of the events we relate, and that care continues to this day. Thank you, Dee, for everything.
Thanks to the Research Division of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force; the Office of History and Preservation of the U.S. House of Representatives; the National Personnel Records Center of the National Archives and Records Administration; and the Iowa Women’s Archives, University of Iowa Libraries. Each contained documents that confirmed and reignited old memories. Thanks also to Sonia López, who carefully scanned and meticulously restored numerous old photos.
A thank you to the unknown transcribers who, four decades ago, carefully recorded our words from space and in the later congressional hearings. The events I recount are burned deep in my memory (flying to the moon tends to do that), but to have my exact words from so long ago at hand helped me relive events with even sharper clarity and precision.
I want to reserve my final thank you for my wife Jill. We are approaching thirty years of married life together and have shared many wonderful adventures. She’s always understood how important it is for me to tell this story, and I thank her for her support while we researched and wrote the book. I’m looking forward to our next few decades of adventures together.
I’ve tried my best to describe people and events in words; however, I know there will be places in this story where a reader would like to see a photo. As there is only a limited amount of space in the book, I have added more photos to my website—www.alworden.com—from my life today back to my childhood. I hope you enjoy them.
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Alfred Worden and Francis French
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Published by Smithsonian Books
Editor: Lise Sajewski
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Worden, Al, 1932–
Falling to Earth : an Apollo 15 astronaut’s journey / Al Worden with Francis French. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-58834-310-9
1. Worden, Al, 1932–2. Astronauts—United States—Biography. 3. Space flight to the moon—History. 4. Project Apollo (U.S.)—History. I. French, Francis. II. Title.
TL789.85.W67A3 2011
629.450092—dc22
[B]
2011003440
v3.1