About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherSmithsonian Books

ISBN-10158834309X

ISBN-139781588343093

eBay Product ID (ePID)27038396147

Product Key Features

Book TitleFalling to Earth : an Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon

Number of Pages312 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicGeneral, Aeronautics & Astronautics, Science & Technology

Publication Year2011

IllustratorYes

GenreTechnology & Engineering, Biography & Autobiography

AuthorFrancis French, Al Worden

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight0 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2011-003440

Dewey Edition22

Reviews"Very few of us flew to the moon, and the stories we brought back with us are special, treasured, and unique. Al is both a pilot and a poet, and his honest portrayal of our exhilarating adventures will move and excite a whole new generation." Buzz Aldrin, Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut, author of Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon KIRKUS REVIEWS With the assistance of space historian French (co-author: In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969 , 2007, etc.), astronaut Worden, commander of the Apollo 15 module, writes that "it is time to&set the record straight" about the scandal that ended his career in space flight. The author flew under Colonel Dave Scott with Jim Irwin on the successful 1971 NASA trip to the Moon. When they returned to Earth, the crew found themselves in the midst of a scandal, accused of being paid to take souvenir items into space. Although they denied this, they were grounded from then on. By the summer of 1972, the U.S. Senate was involved, and Congresswoman Leonor Sullivan wanted to know "what's going on at NASA." They were never charged with violating law or NASA regulations, but it took years for the three flyers to get their good names back. Worden, now in his 70s, has a record that speaks for itself. He is one of "only 24 humans" who have left Earth's orbit and gone to the Moon. The author describes how astronauts need courage and skill to fly on the Apollo missions and how they had to be prepared to deal with the unexpected: "We focused on the events that could kill us and prepared for them." Apollo 15, with its on-board instruments and cameras, brought back a treasure trove of data, but they faced many potentially dangerous situations including fragments of broken glass in the weightless environment of the landing module. Worden now helps the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation fund the training of future science and technology students. On his journey, the author "discovered far more" about the Earth, not only from space, but also in the time and effort spent vindicating himself from what appears to have been an unfair scapegoating. From the Hardcover edition., "Very few of us flew to the moon, and the stories we brought back with us are special, treasured, and unique. Al is both a pilot and a poet, and his honest portrayal of our exhilarating adventures will move and excite a whole new generation." Buzz Aldrin, Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut, author of Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon

Dewey Decimal629.450092 B

SynopsisWorden has never before told the full story around the dramatic events that shook NASA and ended his space-flight career. In this exhilarating account, readers will learn of those events for the first time, and of what it is like to journey to the moon and back., As command module pilot for the Apollo 15 mission to the moon in 1971, Al Worden flew on what is widely regarded as the greatest exploration mission that humans have ever attempted. He spent six days orbiting the moon, including three days completely alone, the most isolated human in existence. During the return from the moon to earth he also conducted the first spacewalk in deep space, becoming the first human ever to see both the entire earth and moon simply by turning his head. The Apollo 15 flight capped an already-impressive career as an astronaut, including important work on the pioneering Apollo 9 and Apollo 12 missions, as well as the perilous flight of Apollo 13. Nine months after his return from the moon, Worden received a phone call telling him he was fired and ordering him out of his office by the end of the week. He refused to leave. What happened in those nine months, from being honored with parades and meetings with world leaders to being unceremoniously fired, has been a source of much speculation for four decades. Worden has never before told the full story around the dramatic events that shook NASA and ended his spaceflight career. Readers will learn them here for the first time, along with the exhilarating account of what it is like to journey to the moon and back. It's an unprecedentedly candid account of what it was like to be an Apollo astronaut, with all its glory but also its pitfalls.

Epilogue byStafford, Tom

LC Classification NumberTL789.85.W67A3 2011