The Light of Earth: Reflections on a Life in Space

Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden was one of the highest-profile personalities among the Apollo astronauts, renowned for his outspokenness and potent views but also recognized as a warm and well-liked person who devoted much of his life after retiring from NASA to sharing his spaceflight experiences.

Worden had nearly finished writing this book before his passing in 2020 at the age of eighty-eight. Coauthored with spaceflight historian Francis French, The Light of Earth is Worden’s wide-ranging look at the greatest-ever scientific undertaking, in which he was privileged to be a leading participant.

Here Worden gives readers his refreshingly candid opinions on the space program, flying to the moon, and the people involved in the Apollo and later shuttle programs, as well as sharing hard-hitting reflections on the space shuttle program, the agonies and extraordinary sights and delights of being a NASA Apollo astronaut, and the space program’s triumphs and failures.

Worden delves into areas of personal grief that reveal the noble and truly human side of the space program’s earliest years. He does not hold back when discussing the shocking deaths of his fellow astronauts in the three major tragedies that struck the space agency, nor does he shy away from sharing his personal feelings about fellow Apollo astronauts including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Worden was known as a charismatic speaker and one of the most thoughtful Apollo astronauts. His candid, entertaining, and unique perspective in The Light of Earth will captivate and surprise.
 

Al Worden (1932–2020) served as a support crew member for Apollo 9, backup command module pilot for Apollo 12, and command module pilot for Apollo 15’s mission in 1971. After retiring from active duty in 1975, Worden spent years in private industry before becoming the chair of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and traveling the world as head of the Astronaut Al Worden Endeavour Scholarship. He is the author of Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut’s Journey to the Moon. Francis French is a space historian and author of numerous best-selling history books with international experience in relating science, engineering, and astronomy to general audiences. He is the editor of Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele (Nebraska, 2017). Dee O’Hara was one of the first women in the space program, working as an aerospace nurse to the first astronauts beginning in 1959, serving in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs