1982 Interview With Apollo Astronaut Jim Irwin

In March 1982, Apollo astronaut Jim Irwin visited Grande Prairie, Alberta, where I was living at the time. I was writing freelance articles for a local newspaper and managed to get the assignment to interview him. It was the highlight of my (very limited) journalistic career. On this 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing, it seems appropriate to share the the article I wrote for Grande Prairie This Week.

Spiritual Journey for Irwin Began on the Moon

by Keith Soltys
Originally published in Grande Prairie This Week, March 10, 1982.

For astronaut Jim Irwin, walking on the moon was just the first step in a spiritual journey.

"I realized after the flight that it was more important that Jesus walked on the Earth than man walked on the moon."

Irwin is in Grande Prairie this week on a visit sponsored by the Grande Prairie Christian Businessman's Association.

Irwin was a military test pilot before joining NASA in 1966. He trained for five years before flying to the moon on the Apollo 15 mission in July 1971.

Before his flight he wasn't particularly religious.

"I went to church but I wasn't active. I was a bump-on-the-log Christian. I never shared my belief."

He didn't expect the lunar mission to be a spiritual experience.

"We were trained in a technical way to be geologists and field observers. We never anticipated a religious effect."

But the experience of seeing the Earth hanging alone in the blackness of space did change his life.

"I saw the Earth as God must see it, as a special place, the only home of man in the universe. I came back more human, more caring, and with a desire to communicate the real values of life."

After retiring from NASA, he founded the High Flight Foundation to help spread his message.

He now spends about 80 percent of his time travelling and speaking to various groups in locations as diverse as Prince George, BC and the Soviet Union.

Despite his largely spiritual message he doesn't consider himself an evangelist.

"I don't call myself an evangelist although my message is evangelisitic. If I had to call myself anything it would be a lay speaker."

He says that the word he tries to spread is that: "There is a spirit within man that needs to be lifted up. My purpose is to share not just the space adventure but the spiritual adventure that we share with Christ."

Irwin is not the only astronaut to have his life changed dramatically by spaceflight.

Ed Mitchell, another Apollo astronaut, founded a foundation to conduct research into parapsychology. Al Worden and Charlie Duke help Irwin with the High Flight Foundation.

"We all have experienced something. Not all of us talk about it though. We were all very humbled by the experience."

Irwin says the space program still has an important part to play in peoples' lives.

"I see space as the new frontier, a frontier without limits. Not many people appreciate the tremendous return we are getting from space exploration."

"We're not spending the money in space. We're spending it on Earth, making productive work and getting new technology from it, new materials, new knowledge."

Irwin spoke at the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce annual prayer breakfast on Tuesday.

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Sadly, Irwin died of heart failure in 1991. He was the first of the 12 Apollo moon walkers to die, and the youngest. It was an honour to have met him and have a chance to talk for an hour.