Alan LaVern Bean, (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018; CAPT, USN, Ret.), former naval officer and Naval Aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, the fourth human to walk on the Moon, one of the first Americans to live aboard a space station, and a man who devoted the second half of his life to painting, died on Saturday in Houston. He was 86.
A tribute from NASA -
Career
Alan Bean earned an engineering degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1955; he was commissioned in the US Navy and became an aviator and test pilot. NASA selected him as a member of its third class of astronauts in 1963.
Alan made his first flight into space aboard Apollo 12, the second manned mission to land on the Moon, at age 37 in November 1969.
He made his second and final flight into space on the Skylab 3 mission in 1973, the second manned mission to the Skylab space station. The 59-day, 24.4-million-mile flight set a new world record.
Bean logged 1,671 hours and 45 minutes in space, of which 10 hours and 26 minutes were spent in EVAs on the Moon and in Earth orbit.
Bean retired from the Navy in October 1975 as a Captain but continued as head of the Astronaut Candidate Operations and Training Group within the Astronaut Office in a civilian capacity.
Alan helped establish 11 world records in space and astronautics. He was the recipient of many awards including two NASA distinguished Service Medals.
Apollo 12
The Apollo 12 mission to the moon was launched on Nov 14, 1969, from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, four months after Apollo 11. Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean performed just over one day and seven hours of lunar surface activity while Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon remained in lunar orbit.
After a frightening setback when the Apollo rocket was struck by lightning, which knocked off all power systems on board the spacecraft, and after some quick thinking by ground control personnel and the astronauts to restore power, Apollo 12 made a precise landing at the site of the Surveyor 3 unmanned probe, which had landed on April 20, 1967. They carried the first color television camera to the lunar surface on an Apollo flight, but transmission was lost after Bean accidentally destroyed the camera by pointing it at the Sun. On one of two moonwalks, they visited the Surveyor and removed some parts for return to Earth. The mission ended on November 24 with a successful splashdown. en.wikipedia.org/...
Alan Bean, the Artist
After retirement, Alan devoted more time to his lifelong passion in painting, depicting many space-related scenes and documenting the experiences of astronauts in space.
Apollo was an impossible dream. To get to the moon and return safely we worked, prayed, and cheered together as a world. Together we made an impossible dream come true.
I was fortunate to be the first artist with the opportunity to be in the center of the action to capture what I saw and felt, and bring it back to earth to share with generations to come. It is my dream that on the wings of my paintbrush many people will see what I saw and feel what I felt, walking on another world some 240,000 miles from my studio here on planet earth.
I believe my paintings are beautiful and important art. It is art not of the distant past, but art of our time. Art we can understand, important art to us and our descendants because we were there as history was made.
www.alanbean.com/...
You can see the full gallery of paintings by Alan and read the story behind each painting at www.alanbean.com. Several of the paintings are available for sale there; there are links to sites that sell prints. Most of the paintings are listed as “textured acrylic with moondust on aircraft plywood.”
There is a bit of magic in all of my recent paintings, starting with a trace of actual moondust from the patches and insignias I wore on my Apollo spacesuit.
I also add particles of the heat shields from our Apollo 12 Command Module, charred during its fiery 25,000-miles-per-hour reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, plus bits of gold foil from the forward hatch of our Command Module.
Here are a few of the paintings that have been posted on twitter by friends and admirers in memory of Alan Bean -
The painting above is available for sale at $433,700 at www.alanbean.com/...
Here are a couple of videos of Alan explaining his passion for and virtuosity in space sciences and the art of painting. 43 of his paintings were on display until 2010 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The Colors on the Moon
Please read the twitter thread below for an interesting story of Alan the artist on the Moon -
Epilogue
With Bean's passing, only four human beings that have walked on the Moon are alive — Buzz Aldrin (88), Dave Scott (85), Charlie Duke (82), and Harrison Schmitt (82). Many of the stalwarts of the Mercury and Apollo era have left us for their heavenly abode recently.
It is always sad when someone loved and admired passes away. It is also an occasion to celebrate their life, their work, their accomplishments and their contributions to humanity and to this place we call home.
Further Reading
- Alan Bean Bio — www.jsc.nasa.gov/…
- Alan Bean Wiki — en.wikipedia.org/…
- NASA Tribute to Alan Bean — www.nasa.gov/…
- Alan Bean Obit from family — www.nasa.gov/...
- Alan Bean Paintings — www.alanbean.com
- “Painting Apollo: First Artist on Another World” — www.amazon.com/…. Featuring 120 of Alan Bean's luminous paintings.
- Alan Bean, the fourth human to walk on the Moon, has died — arstechnica.com/...
- “John Watts Young (1930 - 2018) - NASA Astronaut, Navy Test Pilot and Aeronautical Engineer - RIP” — www.dailykos.com/…
- “Bruce McCandless II - NASA Astronaut, Engineer and Spacewalker - RIP” — www.dailykos.com/…
- “Piers Sellers, NASA Climate Scientist and Astronaut - RIP” — www.dailykos.com/...
P.S. There are additional pictures and info in the comments section.