Tributes have been paid to Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden, who has died aged 88.
In 1971 he circled the moon while his two crewmates test-drove the first lunar rover.
Worden died in his sleep in Houston yesterday following an infection, his friend and colleague Tom Kallman said.
Jim Bridenstine, of Nasa, said: “Al was an American hero whose achieve-ments in space and on earth will never be forgotten.”
Buzz Aldrin, who was on the Apollo 11 mission, tweeted: “‘Line of Grey, Be Thou at Peace!’ Godspeed Al,” quoting a hymn from their days at West Point military academy.
Worden flew to the moon in 1971 with David Scott and Jim Irwin, when he also performed the first deep-space spacewalk. He said of the mission: “Now I know why I’m here. Not for a closer look at the moon, but to look back at our home, the earth.”
