ASTRONAUT Alfred ‘Al’ Worden has been to the Moon, but Lough Gur in County Limerick has made such an impression on him that he is now returning for his third visit.
This July, some 45 years after the Apollo 15 lunar mission, Worden, the great-grandson of a Lough Gur native, returns to his spiritual home.
During a recent visit to County Limerick he said: “When I visited Lough Gur last year, my only thought was how do I get back here again. I am greatly interested in Lough Gur as I believe that the evidence left by our ancestors can show us where we are going to in our future. They greatly understood the night sky and through the monuments reflected its greatness.”
The Michigan native, now 84, performed the first deep-space EVA ( a spacewalk made outside a craft orbiting Earth) during Apollo 15’s homeward journey in 1971. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the moon, and in 2011, his memoir ‘Falling To Earth’ made the LA Times Bestseller list.
On July 16, the spaceman comes travelling back to Limerick to give a lecture on his historic mission to the moon at The Strand Hotel Sky Room from 6.30 to 9.30pm. Tickets are limited to 100 for this exclusive event.
by Alan Jacques
