Worden, Alfred Merrill

Born Feb. 7, 1932, in Jackson, Mich. US astronaut. Lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force.

Worden graduated from the US Military Academy in 1955 with a B.S. degree in military science. In 1963 he received an M.S. degree in engineering from the University of Michigan, specializing in aviation and space technology. He served in various air force units in the USA, and in 1965 he graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilots School, where he subsequently served as an instructor. He became an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1966.

From July 26 to Aug. 7, 1971, together with D. Scott and J. Irwin, Worden completed a flight to the moon as the pilot of the command module of the Apollo 15 spacecraft. He remained in lunar orbit 145 hr 16 min, observing and photographing the moon and conducting tests. During the flight Worden completed the first extravehicular activity outside of earth orbit; the space walk was completed in 18 min, with the spacecraft at a distance of 315,000 km from the earth.