He’s one of just 24 men to travel to the moon. Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden was a guest of the Kansas Cosmosphere over the weekend. Worden was on hand to meet Cosmosphere members and sign his new book “Falling to Earth”.

Worden’s book talks about his triumphs of going to the moon and the downfall of his removal from the space program, after he was embroiled in a controversy surrounding the sale of items from that mission to collectors. He was eventually cleared of any wrong doing.

Worden says despite the ups and downs, it was a great time for American space flight, something that needs to happen again in the near future.

Worden says the future is in space, and he says, America needs to use that as a driving force to motivate children to do the best they can at school. “Falling to Earth” was co-written by noted space author Francis French, who was also on hand Saturday.