Astronaut. After he graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1951, he joined the US Air Force, earned his pilot wings and became a flight instructor. After various services assigned to a top-secret test missions, he was accepted in the astronaut program in 1966. At NASA, he was put in charge of the testing program for the lunar landing module that was being built. On July 30, 1971, Irwin piloted Apollo 15’s lunar module Falcon, touching down in a plain near the moon’s Apennine mountain range. The next day he became the eighth American to walk on the moon. He retired from NASA in 1972 and founded the High Flight Foundation, an interdenominational religious organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)  Family links:  Parents:  James Irwin (1896 – 1979)  Elsa Mathilda Strebel Irwin (1899 – 1993)Cause of death: Heart Attack Inscription:COLUS AIR FORCEKOREAVIETNAM