Tree men who traveled 500,000 miles to explore the alien surface of the moon—the crew of Apollo 15—visited Utah today and described their outer-space adventure as "profound" and "beautiful."

All three—Col. David Scott, Col. James B. Irwin and Lt. Col. Alfred Worden—said the "most exciting" moment of the 12-day voyage was when their huge rocked thundered off the ad at Cape Kennedy.

In describing the success of their mission, Scott said Apollo 15 "did everything we wanted to do and brought back everything we set out to bring."

The expedition commander said he was "most impressed with the beauty of the moon." It has no much "character" that days and days could be spent just observing it, he added.

"The moon is far from being a barren wasteland." Scott explained.

During the one-day visit to Utah the three astronauts met with massive groups of high school students in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo, attended special luncheons and lectured and showed films of their moon trip.

Accompanying the astronauts were Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Irwin and Dr. James C. Fletcher also made the trip. After landing at Salt Lake International Airport aboard "NASA 1," a two-engine turbo-prop plane, the party traveled downtown with a police escort to meet with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Some 20 general authorities met the spacemen and President Harold B. Lee of the First Presidency told the explorers that "We watched, listened and prayed for you. We're glad you're home safely."

Scott responded and said the crew had looked forward to visiting "the mountains of Utah" and had brought a gift back from the moon.

He handed President Joseph Fielding Smith a large piece of white cardboard upon which was mounted the insignia Apollo 15, a color photograph taken on the moon and a small flag of Utah.

Scott said the small cloth flag, a few inches square, was carried by the astronauts during their entire journey to and from the moon and also during their travels across the lunar surface in their Rover auto.

President Lee gave to each of the astronauts a white volume telling the story of the Church with the names of the astronauts stamped in gold.