The first deep-space spacewalk and a landing on two parachutes

While Scott and Irwin were on the surface, Worden spent nearly three days alone in lunar orbit operating instruments in the service module’s scientific bay — among other findings, he discovered the lunar highlands contained more aluminium than expected. Each time contact resumed after passing behind the Moon, he greeted Earth with “Hello, Earth. Greetings from Endeavour” in a different language.

On the way home Worden performed a 39-minute excursion outside the ship to retrieve film cassettes from the scientific bay — the first-ever spacewalk performed more than 300,000 km from any celestial body, a type of maneuver still rarely repeated even decades later.

The module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 7 August 1971 — but one of the three main parachutes was damaged during deployment and failed to fully open. The two remaining parachutes were sufficient for a safe landing, and the crew was recovered by USS Okinawa after 12 days of flight. Because of the later exposure of the unauthorized postal covers, none of the three astronauts ever flew in space again.