Texana Thursday: Remembering Astronaut and Artist Alan Bean

The astronaut and artist Alan Bean (photo courtesy alanbean.com)

People often have a hard time transitioning to the next chapter of their lives. For an astronaut who walked on the moon, such a transition must be even harder. How do you equal, let alone surpass, walking on another world?

Native Texan Alan Bean, who died last Saturday in Houston at age 86, made his transition with good grace.

Actually, one might argue that although Bean resigned from NASA in 1981, he never left the space program. As an artist, he created paintings of space, astronauts, and moon missions. Unlike other artists who paint such things, Bean could say he had actually been there and done that.

From Fort Worth to the Moon

The Apollo 12 landing site, with callouts, in the Ocean of Storms on the moon (NASA photo)

Bean grew up in Fort Worth and earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas. His goal was to be a naval aviator. When he read about Alan B. Shepard, America’s first astronaut, going faster and farther aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft, he decided to become an astronaut himself.

Bean joined NASA and was selected to be part of the Apollo 12 crew, which would fly in November 1969. It would be the second mission to make a manned lunar landing. Charles “Pete” Conrad was the crew commander. Conrad and Bean, the lunar module pilot, would descend to the lunar surface aboard the “Intrepid.” Meanwhile, Richard “Dick” Gordon would remain in orbit, piloting the command module, the “Yankee Clipper.”

It was a tight-knit crew, with each astronaut driving identical Corvettes during their training days in Houston. The mission was noteworthy, among other reasons, for its pinpoint landing near the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which had been sent to the moon two years earlier.

In 2009, NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, an unmanned satellite, to take high-resolution pictures of the moon, including the lunar landing sites. Look closely at those images and one can see footprint trails left by the astronauts.

From Skylab to Studio

Apollo 12 was one of two space missions that Bean flew. He served as commander of Skylab 3, a 1973 mission that had Bean and his crewmates in earth orbit for approximately 60 days. Bean walked in space (which he said on his web site is scarier than walking on the moon), and the astronauts performed various experiments during their flight.

Some years earlier, Bean had signed up for a night school art course. With the encouragement of friends, he began working on his art. Eventually, he focused on his art full-time. His work is both original and popular. One can purchase it today through his web site, alanbean.com.

With Bean’s death, only four moonwalkers are still with us. They are Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Dave Scott (Apollo 15), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt (Apollo 17).

Alan Bean had the Right Stuff as an astronaut and an artist. May he rest in peace.