Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean in a great article from "The O

"The Oregonian" today (June 27, 2002) has a really good article on Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean.

You can read the full article HERE

"Organizers would have been hard-pressed to find someone more qualified to kick off an event that combines art and space than Capt. Alan Bean, astronaut and former Navy test pilot. For 21 years, Bean has been a full-time painter.

"After I got home from the moon, people were saying to me, 'Why don't you paint the moon?' " he said. "But I liked painting things that were colorful, and the moon is gray, and the sky is black, and we were in white suits. It's not as beautiful as I wanted to make my paintings."

During an idle afternoon, though, Bean began painting a picture of the Apollo 12 commander, Pete Conrad.

Illustrating the moon

"About two hours into it, I said to myself, 'This is what I should be doing. If I'm any good as an artist, I could make the gray moon really beautiful.' "

So Bean was launched on a new mission: using acrylics to record his experiences in space.

"My dream is that these paintings, and the book I did, end up in schools, and the kids there get inspired and say, 'You know, if Al Bean can get to the moon, I can get to Mars or go out to the nearest star or do whatever I want to do,' " he said."


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Solar Flare on 2002-06-27 19:06 ]</font>

[kucharek]

Since a few weeks, an authorized online gallery of all of Alan Bean's paintings is available at
http://www.astronauthalloffame.com/b...lery/index.htm

Harald

[ktesibios]

I remember watching the TV feed from Apollo 12. During the astronauts' efforts to get the picture to stop looking like someone dropped a crossword puzzle and broke it, I thought I remembered a moment when it looked like the pic was going to fall into place, with Houston asking "what did you do?" and getting the reply "I hit it on top with a hammer".

So, looking through the online gallery, I find this:

"Next, he adds additional texture with the geology hammer that he used on the Moon in November 1969 to do such things as plant the US flag on the Ocean of Storms, loosen the fuel element for the ALSEP, attempt to repair the broken TV camera, and drive core tubes deep into the lunar soil."

Aha! It wasn't a false memory. He really did hit it on top with a hammer.

[kucharek]

And while Pete hammered the cask, Al coined the phrase:
"Don't come to the Moon without a hammer."
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/a12.alsepoff.html

Harald

[Lunatic]

The Alan Bean Online Gallery has now been moved to its own domain (registred as late as October 19, 2002):

http://www.alanbeangallery.com

Check it out !!



"Alan Bean adds a portrait of Apollo 12 sample 12051, the rock collected at this point in the mission. (photo by Ulrich Lotzmann)"




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lunatic on 2002-11-03 14:11 ]</font>