Why Al Worden was Fired After Visiting the Moon

Al Worden was a command module pilot for Apollo 15 in 1971. He was the first one to perform the spacewalk in deep space between the moon and the earth. There was no ‘return-to-earth program’, so Al Worden had to navigate his way back by using a computer on the space craft to do the right calculations that will keep him on track.

After he returned to earth, he was fired 9 months later regardless of all the honoring awards and meetings he received with world leaders. For 4 decades, the true and full story of why NASA decided to end his spaceflight career was never told until now. Using unauthorized poststamps on envelopes that were taken to the moon to use as a trust fund for the education of children put him out of space for good.

Al Worden answers the audience’s questions in the video on what measures need to be taken when needing to eat, or going to the washroom on the space craft in space. He also talks about his most dangerous situation of having tomato soup floating around the technology equipment that could cause some serious damage.

“The problem I have with shutting down the space program is two things” Al Worden admits when someone from the audience asks him what it takes to get America back into space. He explains that it’s not only due to the president’s decision, but also because it negatively influences the possibility of the younger generation working for the space program.

Image provided by nasa hq photo

Sourced: AtGoogleTalks

Curated by: @KatherineNader, an online editor at Arbitrage Magazine, and author of The Deadly Mark. She is a student of Biology, English, and Professional Writing at the University of Toronto.