From today's featured articleAlfred 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. (Full article...)
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Did you know ...![]() Etching by Henry Farrer, c. 1875
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On this daySeptember 19: First day of Rosh Hashanah (Judaism, 2020, AM 5781); International Talk Like a Pirate Day
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James A. Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death by assassination six and a half months later. He had been shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2 that year by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. According to some historians, Garfield might have survived his wounds had the doctors attending him had at their disposal today's medical research and techniques. Instead, they probed the wound with unsterilized fingers and equipment, trying to locate the bullet, and the resulting infection was a significant factor in his death. This picture is a line engraving of Garfield, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents, which was reportedly given to Treasury Secretary Lyman J. Gage. Credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva
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