James B Irwin

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Notable

American astronaut who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1951 and received his M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering in 1957. As a test pilot for the Bureau of Chief Air Defense Command, he was selected to become a NASA astronaut on 4 April 1966. He was the Lunar module pilot for APOLLO 15 and the fourth landing, which occurred on 26 July 1971. On 31 July 1971 Irwin set foot on the moon, collected samples for three days and was monitored for an irregular heartbeat while on the moon's surface. While on the moon, Irwin said, "I felt the presence of another power." After the religious epiphany he experienced during his 67 hours on the moon, he resigned from NASA and the U.S. Air Force on 23 May 1972 to become a lay evangelist. In 1972 he founded the High Flight Foundation, an evangelical association in Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving as its first president. He traveled five times to Mt. Ararat in Turkey to search for the remains of Noah's Ark. Irwin has been awarded many medals and awards. He died of a heart attack on 8 August 1991 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Link to Wikipedia biography