Alfred Worden (1932–2020) was an American test pilot and astronaut
who in 1971 was the command module pilot of the Apollo 15 lunar
mission. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1955,
and was commissioned in the Air Force. He proved adept at flying fighter
planes, becoming a test pilot prior to his selection as an astronaut in
1966. Worden served on the support and backup crews for Apollo 9 and 12
before selection for Apollo 15. He spent three days alone in lunar
orbit, becoming the person who was the furthest from any other human
being, a record he still holds, and also performed the first deep-space
extravehicular activity, or spacewalk. His astronaut career was
effectively ended by a scandal over carrying postal covers to the Moon,
and he retired from NASA in 1975. The author of three books, he
subsequently entered the private sector, unsuccessfully ran for
Congress, undertook charitable works and promoted a renewed space
program.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Worden>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
French shepherd children Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud
reported a Marian apparition, now known as Our Lady of La Salette, near
La Salette-Fallavaux.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_La_Salette>
1940:
World War II: Polish resistance leader Witold Pilecki allowed
himself to be captured by German forces and sent to Auschwitz to gather
intelligence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki>
1970:
Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself on fire in Genoa,
Italy, as a protest against the military junta of Georgios Papadopoulos.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostas_Georgakis>
1995:
The manifesto of Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber,
was published in The Washington Post almost three months after it was
submitted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
yo-ho-ho:
A cry associated with pirates and seafaring, originally a repetitive
chant intended to synchronize workers performing some collective
physical labour, such as hauling on a rope.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yo-ho-ho>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Who may tell What strange conceits upon the earth were sown And
gender'd by the fond garrulity Of your aereal music? Scatter'd notes,
Half heard, half fancied by the erring sense Of man, on which they fell
like downy seeds Sown by autumnal winds, grew up, and teem'd With
plenteous madness.
--Hartley Coleridge
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hartley_Coleridge>