Apollo astronaut Al Worden – once named most isolated human being of all time – dies aged 88 Al Worden, an Apollo astronaut who earned the title of most isolated human, has died aged 88 of a stroke. Worden was Command Module pilot for July 1971's Apollo 15 mission, a role that saw him spend three days in lunar orbit while colleagues commander David Scott and Lunar Module pilot James Irwin visited the moon. During …
More seriously I wonder what it must have felt like to have done what he did.
I'd imagine it'd have felt privileged (in the real sense of the word), either frightening or exhilarating, and I'd imagine it would have been both interesting, and very busy - he probably had lots instrumentation to watch as well as the window.
This ones for you Al ---->
The thing about achieving stuff is that it always looks like a big thing from a distance and then when you get there it seems not such a big deal and you start looking for the next thing. I would guess it felt a lot like doing his job.
But only a guess of curse. No chance of me really know what it’s like to reach that level of achievement.
During Worden’s 74 orbits of the moon, the Command Module reached a point 3597km away from Scott and Irwin, and also the farthest point from Earth.
A quote about a peanut in Reading and a small walnut in Johannesburg comes to mind. And indeed, it equates roughly to one human in London and the other in Cairo.
But he has had a great innings.
I followed all the Apollo missions avidly as a kid. Truly heroic stuff. When my kids next complain about being isolated due to school closures etc, I will remind them what real isolation looks like, without internet, netflix, whatsapp, PS4s, etc, etc, not to mention a sizeable garden to relax in. I should of course start the reminder with "When I were a lad we had proper isolation! ..."
I could get me coat, but I am not going anywhere,
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