Tag Archives: Al Worden

JUST 24 people have ever flown to the moon and one of the exclusive club was in Shannon last Thursday, where he spoke to children at St Aidan’s and St Caimin’s national schools. Al Worden was command module pilot on Apollo 15 in July 1971, alongside commander Dave Scott and lunar module pilot Jim Irwin. During his time in space, he entered the record books as the most isolated human being ever, at times being 3,600km away from his companions. Addressing children at St Aidan’s National School, he said that one of them could be among the first humans to go to Mars, if they persist with education. “When you get through college, you’re going to be the right age to go to Mars. Some of you may be able to do that and that’s going to be a very cool thing to do. It took me two weeks to go to the moon and come back. Going to Mars …

Al Worden, who landed at Shannon Airport this Tuesday evening, was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966 and served as a command module pilot for the historic Apollo 15 (July 26 – August 7, 1971). His arrival at Shannon for a number of public engagements, including a lecture at LIT tomorrow evening and a dinner at the Pavilion UL on the 17th, is all down to a self-confessed space fanatic, Paul Ryan from Ballybricken, Limerick reaching for his own stars to fulfil a bucket-list he drew up after two cardiac incidents at the age of 37. “I have had a fascination with space since I was a young boy and dreamed then of becoming an astronaut but that never happened, of course. I did get to live in the States later on and went to the NASA locations so they were huge moments. “The real trigger for doing this, however, was I had two cardiac incidents four years ago and our second child was born …

SPACE enthusiasts countrywide and from the UK are set to descend on Limerick to get a rare audience with one of just 24 people to have flown to the moon. Al Worden, who was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966, served as a command module pilot for the historic Apollo 15 (July 26 – August 7, 1971), and is seen very much as one of the icons of space travel. His visit to Ireland for a lecture at LIT next Tuesday  and a dinner at the Pavilion UL the following day, is all down to one self-confessed Limerick space fanatic, Paul Ryan from Ballybricken, reaching for his own stars and, completely off his own bat, managing to connect with Worden and secure him for the two special events. And speaking this week, Ryan explained that he had a double motivation for getting Worden to come to Ireland: his life-long fascination with space, combined with it being the …