Conference 7.286::space

750.0. "James B. Irwin, 1930 - 1991 - R.I.P." by TYFYS::SLATER (As we see ourselves, so do we become.) Wed Aug 14 1991 17:27

    
                              James Irwin
    
                              1930 - 1991
    
    
    James Irwin, one of the Apollo 15 astronauts who walked on the moon
    died of a massive heart attack on Thursday, Aug. 8, 1991, while
    mountain biking in the mountains of Colorado near Marble.  He was on
    a tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of his moon walk.
    
    Funeral services were held on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at a church in Colorado
    Springs.  Attending astronaut pallbearers included Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin,
    Jr., Eugene Cernan, Alan Bean, Bill Pogue, and fellow Apollo 15
    astronauts, Al Worden and David Scott.
    
    James Irwin followed his astronaut career with spritual pursuits in
    Christianity.  These included writing about his spiritual
    transformation which he said occured during his moon walk in August
    1971, speaking engagements, and founding a Christian evangelical
    outreach organization called High Flight.  
    
    He was the first of the 12 astronauts who have walked on the moon, to
    die.  It is interesting to note that he developed an irregular
    heartbeat during the Apollo 15 flight, and this had troubled him
    physically ever since. *  Despite three previous heart attacks, and
    bypass surgery, Irwin, continued to pursue his love of hiking and
    biking in the mountains. *
    
    His body will be buried in Arlington National Cemetary in Arlington,
    Virginia, on Thursday, Aug. 15, 1991.
    
    
    Bill Slater
    Software Specialist
    Colorado Springs, Colorado
    
    
    ( I was on a special activity trip for the Tennessee Wing of the Civil  
      Air Patrol at Huntsville Manned Spaceflight Center, during the flight
      of Apollo 15.  It made quite an impression on me to be around the
      facilities and people where these astronauts had trained.  The entire
      crew were heroes to me, so I am personally saddened at the loss of
      Jim Irwin, but I happy that he was involved in an activity that he
      loved when he finally gave up the ghost.)
    
    
    
    *  This sentence was taken from the Colorado Springs newspaper, the
       Gazette Telegraph, Aug. 14, 1991.

    	See also SPACE Note 459.61
    

Article        34424
From: kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu (Kieran A. Carroll)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Jim Irwin Dies
Date: 13 Aug 91 20:03:50 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
  
    Coincidentally, the magazine "Spaceflight" (published by the
British Interplanetary Society, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8
1SZ England) published an article profiling James Irwin in their
August 1991 issue. 

    One quote that appears there seems almost prescient...at Edwards
Air Force Base, "Irwin was assigned to fly the YF 12A experimental
aircraft.  There were only three of these ever built said Irwin, `two
of which crashed...the other is in the Air Force museum at Dayton,
Ohio.  I think that everything that ever flew is in that museum, you
will probably see me there pretty soon!' " 
 
     Kieran A. Carroll @ U of Toronto Aerospace Institute
     uunet!attcan!utzoo!kcarroll kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu