Remembering Astronaut James McDivitt (1929-2022)

Astronaut James McDivitt, born June 10, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, passed away October 13, 2022 at age 93.  He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in September 1962 as a member of Astronaut Group 2.  His first mission in space was commander of Gemini IV.  It was the first time a rookie was in command of a NASA flight.  He traveled with Ed White, who conducted the first EVA for the U.S.

McDivitt's second flight was on Apollo 9 as commander in March 3, 1969, with David Scott and Russell Schweickart for 10 days.

He left the Astronaut Corps after Apollo 9, and was assigned backup commander of Apollo 12, and made mission commander of Apollo 15.  He retired in June 1972.

He was honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Air Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.  

Apollo 15 launches subsatellite 1971

Shortly before the crew of Apollo 15 (Commander David Scott, Alfred Worden, James Irwin) left the moon after a successful mission, they launched a "subsatellite", the Apollo 15 Particles and Fields Subsatellite (PFS-1), August 4, 1971.  Its main objectives were to study the plasma, particle and magnetic field of the moon.  PFS-1 transmitted data until January 1973.  A series of failures resulted in the termination from the ground support.  It's assumed that it crashed on the moon sometime after that.

Remembering Apollo 15 astronaut Alfred Worden (1932-2020)

Alfred Worden, Apollo 15 astronaut, passed away March 17, 2020.  He was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966. He served as Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission.  the Guiness Book of World Records named him the Most Isolated human being for his 3 days alone in the command module.  When he was on the opposite side of the moon from David Scott and James Irwin, he was at least 2,235 miles away from any other human being.

Worden made seven guest appearances on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood between 1972 and 1975.

His memoir Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon rose to #12 on the Los Angeles Times Bestseller List.

He passed away from a stroke March 17 in Sugar Land, Texas.

Karl Henize, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1926

Karl Henize, born October 17, 1926 in Cincinnati, Ohio, traveled into space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-F) July-August 1985 as mission specialist.  Chosen as an astronaut by NASA in 1967, he completed jet pilot training at Vance AFB in Enid, Oklahoma(!) and served as support crew for Apollo 15 and Skylab 2-4 missions.

On Challenger, he logged 188 hours in space.

He passed away in October 1993 from high altitude pulmonary edema during a climb of Mount Everest.  He was part of test to study how people's bodies would be affected by radiation for long duration space missions.

James Irwin, Apollo 15 astronaut, born 1930

James Irwin, born March 17, 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the eighth person to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 15 mission.  Launched July 26, 1971, Irwin served as the Lunar Module Pilot and explored the lunar surface with David Scott.  Irwin became the first automobile passenger on the moon, taking rides in the Lunar Rover while Scott drove.

After working for about 23 hours, flight surgeons on Earth noticed Irwin was having irregularities in his heart rhythms.  His heart had developed bigeminy, a continuous alternation of long and short heart beats.  Essentially he was having a heart attack.  If he was on Earth, flight surgeon Dr. Charles Berry said he would have put him in an ICU, but the lunar module had 100% oxygen atmosphere and in zero gravity so he was already in the best of circumstances.  Once Irwin returned to Earth, the symptoms did not recur.

But Irwin did develop coronary problems later in life, after leaving NASA, and passed away from a heart attack on August 8, 1991.

Happy birthday, Apollo 15 astronaut Alfred Worden

Alfred Worden, born February 7, 1932 in Jackson, Michigan, went to the moon on Apollo 15 July-August 1971.  He remained in the command module Endeavour in orbit above the moon while David Scott and James Irwin explored the lunar surface.

He said he spent "three wonderful days in a spacecraft all by myself" about his experience.  As a result of the  "stamp incident", he and the other Apollo crewmen never went into space again.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Robert Parker!

Robert Allan Parker, born December 14, 1936 in New York City, is a veteran of two Space Shuttle flights.  He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1967 and was a member of the Astronaut Support Crews for Apollo 15 and 17. He was a program scientist for all three Skylab missions.

His first shuttle flight was on Columbia (STS-9) in November-December 1983 as a mission specialist.  He traveled with Ulf Merbold, the first ESA and West German in space.

Parker's second and final flights was also on Columbia (STS-35) in December 1990.  He retired from NASA in August 2005.

Remembering Gemini and Apollo astronaut Dick Gordon (1929-2017)

Astronaut Richard "Dick" Gordon, veteran of the Gemini and Apollo programs, passed away yesterday in California at the age of 88.  He was born October 5, 1929 in Seattle and received a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry(!) in 1951 from the University of Washington.

His first flight was aboard Gemini XI with Pete Conrad.  They docked with the Agena Target Vehicle on the first orbit, only an hour and 34 minutes after launch, the first time attempting this maneuver.  Dick performed two EVAs for a total of 2 hours and 41 minutes.

His second and final flight was aboard Apollo 12, which was struck by lightning during takeoff, but made it to the moon safely.  Gordon orbited the moon in the Lunar Orbiter while Pete Conrad and Alan Bean walked on the moon.

He was assigned backup commander for Apollo 15 and was to walk on the moon during the Apollo 18 mission but that flight was cancelled.

John Swigert, Apollo 13 astronaut, born 1931

John "Jack" Swigert, born August 30, 1931 in Denver, Colorado, was an astronaut on the bad-luck-ridden Apollo 13 mission, as Command Module Pilot.

The mission was his only flight.  He was slated to be in the rotation for the Apollo-Soyuz project but was removed due to his involvement in the Apollo 15 Postage Stamp Incident.

Swigert passed away in 1982 from cancer.

Apollo 15 launched 1971

Apollo 15 crew: Commander David Scott, CMP Alfred Worden, LMP James Irwin

Apollo 15, launched July 26, 1971, was the first time the lunar rover was deployed and used on the moon's surface.  The mission was the fourth one to land on the moon and the ninth overall manned mission.  Its crew consisted of Commander David R. Scott; Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden; and Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin.

They reached lunar orbit on July 30 and Scott and Irwin touched down later the same day (UTC) in the Hadley area.  They spent 2 days and 18 hours on the surface, during which time they conducted three EVAs and deployed the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) for its first use.

They returned to Earth August 7, logging in a total mission time of 12 days, 7 hours, 11 minutes, and 53 seconds.

David Scott, first man to drive on the moon, born in 1932

David Randolph Scott, born June 6, 1932, was the seventh man to walk on the moon but the first to drive on it.  On his third trip into space, Scott commanded the Apollo 15 crew on the fourth manned  mission to the moon from July 26-August 7, 1971.  It was Scott's third trip into space.  His first was piloting Gemini VIII with Neil Armstrong.  He piloted Apollo 9 with James McDivitt and Rusty Schweickart. 

Besides driving the lunar rover, Scott proved Galileo's theory of gravity with a hammer and a feather.