Is Alfred Worden Living or Dead?

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Is American astronaut Alfred Worden dead? Or ... still alive?

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By Botty Snyder

Updated 18 March 2023

Image info

Artist	NASA, scanned by Kipp Teague
Credit	Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
License	pd
Desc	Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden.
Url	https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Al_Worden_Apollo_15_CMP.jpg
Usage	Public domain
Description_url	https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al_Worden_Apollo_15_CMP.jpg

Image info/credit

American astronaut

Alfred Worden is ...

Dead

Born	7 February 1932 in Jackson
Died	18 March 2020 in Sugar Land
Age	88 years, 1 months
Cause	cerebrovascular disease

Sex or gender	male
Country of citizenship	United States of America
Manner of death	natural causes
Occupation	officer, astronaut, aviator and aerospace engineer
Awards	United Nations Peace Medal, United States Astronaut Hall of Fame and NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Twitter username	WordenAlfred
Educated at	University of Michigan, U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, United States Military Academy and Jackson High School

About Alfred Worden

Alfred Worden, born on February 7, 1932, is an American astronaut who made history as the command module pilot for the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. He was the first person to perform a deep-space EVA (extravehicular activity) and the first to orbit the moon alone while his fellow astronauts explored its surface.

Worden grew up in Michigan and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1955. He served as a fighter pilot in the Air Force before being selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1966.

During the Apollo 15 mission, Worden orbited the moon for three days while his crewmates, David Scott and James Irwin, explored the lunar surface. He conducted a spacewalk to retrieve film canisters from the exterior of the spacecraft and performed scientific experiments, including taking photographs of the moon's surface.

After his time with NASA, Worden went on to work in private industry and served as chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. He has also authored several books, including "Hello Earth: Greetings from Endeavour" and "I Want to Know About a Flight to the Moon."

Despite his achievements, Worden's career was not without controversy. In 2011, he was sued by NASA for attempting to sell a lunar sample bag that he had kept as a personal memento from the Apollo 15 mission. The bag was eventually sold at auction for $1.8 million.

Worden's legacy as an astronaut and space pioneer continues to inspire future generations. As he once said, "I think the most important thing that we can do is inspire young people to want to explore, to want to learn, to want to push the boundaries of what we know."

References:

- NASA. "Alfred M. Worden." https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/alfred-m-worden

- Space.com. "Alfred Worden: Apollo 15's Lone Moon Pilot." https://www.space.com/16756-alfred-worden-biography.html

- The New York Times. "NASA Sues Ex-Astronaut Over Moon Dust." https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/science/space/31moon.html

About Death

Worden died on March 18, 2020, at an assisted living center in Sugar Land, Texas. He was 88. Worden had been suffering from an infection at home in League City, Texas for which he was hospitalized at Texas Medical Center in Houston. He was convalescing at the Sugar Land facility at the time of his death.