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26th May 2018, 06:22 PM | #1 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 21,203
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Apollo 12 Astronaut, Alan Bean...
has, sadly, passed away after a short illness. He was 86.
He was the LM Pilot of Apollo 12, and became the fourth man to walk on the moon, following Armstrong and Aldrin in Apollo 11, and then Pete Conrad, his Commander on Apollo 12. He would not have flown at all if not for the tragic death of Clifton Williams who was scheduled to fly as Conrad's pilot. Conrad suggested Bean, who was at the time was in the NASA Apollo Applications Program after not having a place in the program itself. This lead to the all navy crew having 4 stars in their mission patch, one for each of the three Astronauts, Conrad, Bean, and CM pilot, James Irwin, and one for Williams. Sadly there isn't a lot of TV Footage, as the light sensor in the camera was burned out early in the mission as the camera was moved and accidently pointed at the sun. This lead to the cameras on the following flights being equipped with a light sensitive iris that shut if there was too much light, avoiding damage to the camera. On the whole it was a bad trip for cameras with Conrad's Hasselblad camera developing a trigger fault meaning that they ended up having to share Bean's to take the still photos, and a Timer they had taken with them to share a photo while having the close encounter with another spacecraft, Surveyor 3, being lost until they were back at the LM, and then again sadly they threw it away instead of taking the double picture there and then. Finally Bean was struck in the head by the 12mm camera on landing after forgetting to remove it from its bracket. He was knocked out for a short time and received six stitches and a concussion. Bean went on to become a prolific artist, painting many of the scenes that he saw while on the moon, and using other Apollo missions as inspirations as well. He was well known for adding trace amounts of moon dust into the paints of his artworks. He will be missed. |
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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871) |
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26th May 2018, 07:42 PM | #2 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Sorth Dakonsin
Posts: 29,368
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This is the second moon-walking Astronaut I've met (the first being Buzz Aldrin). It was at an exhibit of his paintings and he showed me the imprints of his moon boots and little rock hammer he'd made into the thick paint.
I find it comfortingly coincidental that I have just happened to take up acrylic painting again |
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Science is self-correcting. Woo is self-contradicting. |
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26th May 2018, 09:18 PM | #3 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 25,306
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The only one of the three astronauts in the Apollo 12 capsule who knew what "SCE to AUX" meant when John Aaron figured out that this would save the mission after it was stuck by lightning.
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26th May 2018, 09:27 PM | #4 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 5,718
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How many of the men who have walked on the moon are are left?
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26th May 2018, 09:34 PM | #5 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 1,273
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Only four are left.
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26th May 2018, 09:41 PM | #6 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 20,571
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Kinda shows how interest in the space program dropped off after the first moonwalk. I don't remember Bean at all.
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My new blog: Recent Reads. 1960s Comic Book Nostalgia Visit the Screw Loose Change blog. |
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26th May 2018, 11:19 PM | #7 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 21,203
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I think losing the TV didn't help, as with that the moonwalk wasn't seen live, in fact much was never seen at all because of the issue.
However the popularity did disappear fast, as evidenced by the scheduled live TV broadcast by the crew of Apollo 13 as they flew to the moon being pulled from stations across the board because it was seen as routine and boring. (It was the 5th moon flight by then, Apollo 8, 10, 11 and 12 before it.) Interest in 13 didn't increase again until after the oxygen cylinder explosion cause the landing to be abandoned and all attention was on getting the crew home safety. The drop in popularity of the program and the fact that it had been a Kennedy pushed for one meant that after Apollo 13, Nixon had the ammo to kill it and have it replaced with the Shuttle Program. |
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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871) |
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27th May 2018, 12:07 AM | #8 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 21,203
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Here you go, a list of all of the people that have travelled to the moon. A '*' means that they landed on that mission, otherwise they just orbited. I have highlighted the remaining four. Some people are listed twice because they flew multiple Apollo Missions.
other notations: m - Also flew in Mercury Program. g - Also flew in Gemini Program. sl - Also flew in Skylab Program. ss - Also flew in Space Shuttle Program. Apollo 8 Cmdr - Frank Bormang (March 14, 1928 -) LM Pilot - James "Jim" Lovellg (March 25, 1928 -) CM Pilot - William Anders (October 17, 1933 -) Apollo 10 Cmdr - Thomas "Tom" Staffordg (September 17, 1930-) LM Pilot - John Youngg,ss (September 24, 1930 - January 5, 2018) CM Pilot - Eugene Cernang (March 14, 1934 - January 16, 2017) Apollo 11 *Cmdr - Neil Armstrongg (August 5, 1930 - August 25, 2012) *LM Pilot - Edwin "Buzz" Aldring (January 20, 1930 - ) CM Pilot - Micheal Collinsg (October 31, 1930 - ) Apollo 12 *Cmdr - Charles "Pete" Conradg,sl (June 2, 1930 - July 8, 1999) *LM Pilot - Alan Beang,sl (March 15, 1932 - May 26, 2018) CM Pilot - Richard Gordong (October 5, 1929 - November 6, 2017) Apollo 13 Cmdr - James Lovellg (March 25, 1928 -) LM Pilot - Fred Haise (November 14, 1933 - ) CM Pilot - John "Jack" Swigert (August 30, 1931 – December 27, 1982) Apollo 14 *Cmdr - Alan Shepardm (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) *LM Pilot - Edgar "Ed" Mitchell (September 17, 1930 – February 4, 2016) CM Pilot - Stuart "Stu" Roosa (August 16, 1933 – December 12, 1994) Apollo 15 *Cmdr - David Scottg (June 6, 1932 -) *LM Pilot - James "Jim" Irwin (March 17, 1930 – August 8, 1991) CM Pilot - Alfred "Al" Worden (February 7, 1932 - ) Apollo 16 *Cmdr - John Youngg,ss (September 24, 1930 - January 5, 2018) *LM Pilot - Charles "Charlie" Duke (October 3, 1935 - ) CM Pilot - Thomas "Ken" Mattinglyss (March 17, 1936 - ) Apollo 17 *Cmdr - Eugene Cernang (March 14, 1934 - January 16, 2017) *LM Pilot - Harrison "Jack" Schmitt (July 3, 1935 - ) CM Pilot - Ronald Evans (November 10, 1933 – April 7, 1990) |
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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871) |
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27th May 2018, 12:09 AM | #9 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 21,203
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Also a correction to the OP. I said that Jim Irwin was the CM Pilot, but this was wrong. Irwin was the Backup CM Pilot, and Richard Gordon was the CM Pilot who flew. Sorry for that error.
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It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871) |
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27th May 2018, 01:27 AM | #10 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 20,571
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In the 1960s it seemed like we were huddled around a TV every time a rocket went off. The astronauts seemed like gods; comic book ads of the time claimed that you too could be astronaut-tough (showing a guy who looked like he had a 12-pack (of abs, not beer). There were even astronaut trading cards; I had some back in 1963 or 1964.
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My new blog: Recent Reads. 1960s Comic Book Nostalgia Visit the Screw Loose Change blog. |
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27th May 2018, 08:40 AM | #11 |
No longer the 1
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Posts: 30,145
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As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves. |
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