James B. Irwin

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James B. Irwin

1930-1991

American astronaut who was one of the first to drive the lunar rover on the moon. Irwin graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and earned an engineering master's degree from the University of Michigan before completing Air Force test pilot training. Irwin served as the lunar module pilot for Apollo 15 in 1971 and explored the moon's surface. The next year he established the High Flight Foundation. His autobiography, To Rule the Night, discusses his spiritual epiphanies on the moon.

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