... was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 15 – the fourth Apollo mission to land on the Moon (July–August 1971). He spent a total of 18 hours and 35 minutes on the Moon's surface, in three separate EVAs. He was the first automobile passenger on the Moon, in the Lunar Roving Vehicle driven by Mission Commander David Scott.
After their return to Earth, the Apollo 15 crew were reprimanded for selling First Day Covers 'posted' on the Moon. The profits of the sale were intended to be used to establish trust funds for the crew's children. NASA had turned a blind eye to similar activities on earlier flights, but on this occasion the administration reprimanded the astronauts, and they never got any funds from the sales.
After his retirement from the US Army in 1972, Irwin spent the next 20 years as a "Goodwill Ambassador for the Prince of Peace", stating that "Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon". He frequently spoke about how his experiences in space had made God more real to him than before.
Beginning in 1973, Irwin led several expeditions to Mount Ararat, Turkey, in search of the remains of Noah's Ark. In 1982 he was injured during the descent, and had to be transported down the mountain on horseback. In More Than Earthlings (1983 – a series of short essays or meditations), Irwin wrote that he believed the Genesis creation narrative to be real, literal history.
Irwin suffered at least three serious heart attacks. The first was less than two years after Apollo 15, when he was 43 years old; the second was in 1986, and the third, fatal one was in 1991. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
© Haydn Thompson 2017