Posted on 05/26/2018 8:24:26 PM PDT by wastedyears
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth person to walk on the moon in 1969 during the Apollo 12 mission and commanded a crew on the Skylab space station in 1973, died in Houston on Saturday, federal officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Does this count for an aviation ping?
How many people have walked the moon? Interesting.
Vaya Con Dios, Mr. Bean.
Did this moonwalking astronaut ever write any books about “Otherworldly Things?”
It seems most of the early astronauts remained very quiet, inconspicuous citizens for the rest of their lives.
The exception to the rule of course, being Buzz Aldrin, who in 2010 competed on Dancing With The Stars!
He won a cool, very expensive vacation or two.
And John Glenn.
“How many people have walked the moon?”
Only twelve...so far...that we know about. It used to be that only the buggy-whip generation didn’t believe it at the time. Now it’s the young ones who can’t believe that anything so great could have happened in a world that didn’t include them.
4 that still walk the earth.
I looked that up earlier today. AFAIK, a dozen American men walked on the moon. Only four are still living. Another dozen orbited the moon. Six were command module pilots who went to the moon but stayed with the the ship while the other two crewmen descended to the moon in the Lunar module. Six others orbited the moon as dress rehearsals for the main event. I’m not sure Apollo 13 figures in there, as Jim Jowell made two trips to the moon: One on Apollo 8 and the other on the ill-fated 13.
I’m someone else will chime in to sort it all out.
I remember the listening to the Apollo 12 landing on TV. They came toward the surface in the LEM in a “windows up” attitude, unlike Apollo 11. So, they didn’t see the moon until they were only about 7000 feet above the lunar surface. As soon as it pitched over and they caught their first sight of the landing area, Pete Conrad got so excited he started yelling “There it is, there it is! Right down the middle! I can’t believe it!” It was somewhat disconcerting since it was so unlike the normally staid and unruffled attitude of previous astronauts. Alan Bean had to remind Pete to calm down and stay focused on the job at hand - landing the LEM. Those were great days.
Apollo 8 and 10 also orbited the moon without landing. There were 3 on board each. Apollo 13 flew by the moon with 3 on board, but one (Jim Lovell) had already been there on Apollo 8. So that’s 14 by my count, who only orbited or flew by the moon in addition to the 12 who walked its surface.
RIP and thank you, Sir.
The realtor told me about her being Alan Bean's first wife and it seems like all over the house - the den, master bedroom and the hallway - there were lots of NASA mementoes. I had a closeup personal tour of a bunch of really neat stuff.
When I mentioned that my cousin is (was at the time) a Shuttle astronaut, the realtor derided my cousin as not being as important as Alan Bean, which was not my intention in mentioning him.
Wow, how to lose a sale in one short comment, eh?
God speed, Mr. Bean. It was an honor to have met you on the USS Hornet about 10 years ago.
Alan Bean, who I met years ago at an arts sale store, wrote about 5 books on his adventures and life. When I bought one of his paintings for my son, the view of Earth from the Moon (signed by all of the Apollo 12 crew), I also bought his book (With writer Andrew Chaikins - “Apollo” - An Eyewitness Account”), which he signed and then gave me a second signed one for free (for both my children).
He was a real gentleman and a pleasure to talk with. He had the most spiritual concept and inner feelings of all the astronauts regarding the beauty of space, the moon, the earth, etc.
His paintings were first class and affordable, which has made many people very happy to have at least one of them in their homes.
I’ve met, seen, or have the autographs of 7 of the 12 moonwalkers, and some of the command module pilots who circled the moon. Each is a fascinating individual whose story is worth reading, and they are all humble people in my opinion.
Buzz Aldrin is still the space explorer, always looking and making plans for future space travel. Others were more down-to-earth scientists, while some were just decent family men who had varied careers after space.
What they shared was the fact that out of all the billions of human beings who ever existed on earth, they were the “Lucky Dozen” who landed on the moon, or the “Lucky Dozen” who circled around it with views people could only dream of.
Not back for a diverse bunch of American “flyboys”, who blazed the trail to the moon in the hopes that others will follow.
Alan Bean, RIP. Now you can paint heavenly things from Heaven. What a view of existence you have had. Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing that experience. So he wrote at least five books. I imagine each of those books had to first be cleared by the CIA or the old version of NSA.
And then again, maybe no clearance was needed, if the scientific, and engineering data had all become public by then.
Fair winds and following seas, Captain.
In the period of 1969-1972 nobody would have believed that America would not have a base on the Moon or Mars by 2018.
We were on our way via these brave Astronauts and then...plop, no budgets, no national drive, no vision...sad.
Brian Regan - I Walked On The Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBJ6yptGqm4
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