COLONEL JAMES B. "JIM" IRWIN - TYPED STATEMENT SIGNED - HFSID 156045

JIM IRWIN
Typed statement by Jim Irwin about his Apollo 15 flight.
Typed Statement signed: "Jim Irwin", 5½x7¾. No place, no date. In full: "STATEMENT OF JIM IRWIN, ASTRONAUT In July 1971Dave Scott and I on Apollo 15 became the fourth pair of a total of 12 astronauts to land and walk on the Moon. Our landing craft, named Falcon, landed adjacent to a chasm almost as deep and awesome as the Grand Canton. Very close to our landing site were the Apennine Mountains extending some 15,000 feet from the Moon's surface. Fellow astronaut Al Worden navigated the space craft, Endeavor, in orbit around the Moon while we explored its surface, made numerous scientific tests of the immediate area, and collected approximately 170 lbs. of lunar soil and Moon rocks for the NASA scientists in Houston. At 4:46 p.m. on August 7th, we splashed-down in the Pacific Ocean our journey successfully completed. We had started our journey with lift-off the previous week - on July 26th. I thanked Good Lord for His gift of allowing me to see part of the enormous heavens and for bringing us back to Earth safely." Air Force test pilot James Benson "Jim" Irwin (1930-1991) was an Air Force Colonel when he was selected by NASA as one of 19 astronauts in April 1966. Irwin was on the support crew of Apollo 10 and was the backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 12 before making his historic journey to the Moon on Apollo 15, which was launched on July 26, 1971. The Apollo 15 mission, whose lunar module, Falcon, landed on the Moon on July 30th, was the first designed to explore the Moon over longer periods, greater ranges and with more instruments for the collection of scientific data than previous missions. To accomplish these goals, the mission included the introduction of a $40 million lunar roving vehicle, which reached a top speed of 10 mph across the Moon's surface. Irwin, who was the lunar module pilot, and astronaut Dave R. Scott, who was the Commander of the mission, rode over 17 miles on the Moon as command module pilot Alfred M. Worden orbited in the Endeavor. Their lunar liftoff on August 2nd was the first to be televised. Apollo 15 returned to Earth on August 7, 1971. Irwin, who was one of only 12 astronauts to have walked on the Moon and one of the first of six to have also ridden on the Moon, retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1972 to form a religious organization, the High Flight Foundation, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He died of a heart attack on August 8, 1991. Fine condition.