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International desk: The astronaut Alan Bean, who in 1969 became the fourth person to walk on the moon, has died. He was 86. A statement released by Nasa and family members said he died on Saturday in Houston, after a short illness.<\/p>\nInternational desk: The astronaut Alan Bean, who in 1969 became the fourth person to walk on the moon, has died. He was 86. A statement released by Nasa and family members said he died on Saturday in Houston, after a short illness.<\/p>\n
Nasa's Golden Record may baffle alien life, say researchers
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\nBean was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, which made the second moon landing. He then commanded the second crewed flight to the first US space station, Skylab, in 1973. On that mission, he orbited the Earth for 59 days and traveled 24.4 million miles, a world record at the time.<\/p>\n
Bean spent a total of 69 days in space, including 31 hours on the moon. Only 12 people have ever set foot on the lunar surface. Bean left his footprints on a region called the Ocean of Storms four months after Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, in the historic Apollo 11 mission of July 1969.<\/p>\n
On Apollo 12, Bean and Pete Conrad explored the moon\u2019s surface and conducted experiments while Richard Gordon orbited in the command module, scouting landing sites for future missions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember once looking back at Earth and starting to think, \u2018Gee, that\u2019s beautiful,\u2019\u201d Bean told People magazine in 1981. \u201cThen I said to myself, \u2018Quit screwing off and go collect rocks.\u2019 We figured reflection wasn\u2019t productive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mission was a success, though it started with a jolt. Shortly after liftoff, the rocket was struck by lightning. The crew was able to continue the three-day flight to the moon.<\/p>\n
In a 1998 Nasa oral history, Bean recalled his excitement at preparing to fly to the moon. \u201cWhen you\u2019re getting ready to go to the moon,\u201d he said, \u201cevery day\u2019s like Christmas and your birthday rolled into one. I mean, can you think of anything better?\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nBorn on 15 March 1932, in Wheeler, Texas, Bean received a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955. He attended navy test pilot school and was one of 14 trainees selected by Nasa for its third group of astronauts in October 1963.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d always wanted to be a pilot, ever since I could remember,\u201d he said in the 1998 Nasa history. \u201cI think a lot of it just had to do with it looked exciting. It looked like brave people did that. I wanted to be brave, even though I wasn\u2019t brave at the time. I thought maybe I could learn to be, so that appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bean also played a key role in preparing future astronauts, serving until the first flight of the space shuttle in 1981. He even worked with Star Trek actor Nichelle Nichols on outreach efforts.<\/p>\n
In 2009, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, Bean exhibited his paintings of lunar scenes at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. His paintings feature canvases textured with lunar boot prints and embedded with small pieces of his mission patches, stained with moon dust.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cAlan Bean was the most extraordinary person I ever met,\u201d said Mike Massimino, who flew on two space shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope, in a statement. \u201cHe was a one-of-a-kind combination of technical achievement as an astronaut and artistic achievement as a painter.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said: \u201cAlan Bean once said, \u2018I have the nicest life in the world.\u2019 It\u2019s a comforting sentiment to recall as we mourn his passing.\u201d He added: \u201cAs all great explorers are, Alan was a boundary pusher. We will remember him fondly as the great explorer who reached out to embrace the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bean\u2019s wife of 40 years, Leslie Bean, said he died peacefully surrounded by those who loved him. He fell ill two weeks ago, while traveling in Fort Wayne, Indiana.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlan was the strongest and kindest man I ever knew,\u201d said Leslie Bean. \u201cHe was the love of my life and I miss him dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is survived by his wife, a sister and two children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International desk: The astronaut Alan Bean, who in 1969 became the fourth person to walk on the moon, has died. He was 86. A statement released by Nasa and family members said he died on Saturday in Houston, after a short illness. Nasa’s Golden Record may baffle alien life, say researchers Read more Bean was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n