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Tags Alan Bean , astronauts , obituaries

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Old 26th May 2018, 06:22 PM   #1
PhantomWolf
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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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Last edited by PhantomWolf; 26th May 2018 at 06:24 PM.
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Old 26th May 2018, 07:42 PM   #2
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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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Old 26th May 2018, 09:18 PM   #3
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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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Old 26th May 2018, 09:27 PM   #4
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How many of the men who have walked on the moon are are left?
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Old 26th May 2018, 09:34 PM   #5
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Only four are left.
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Old 26th May 2018, 09:41 PM   #6
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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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Old 26th May 2018, 11:19 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Brainster View Post
Kinda shows how interest in the space program dropped off after the first moonwalk. I don't remember Bean at all.
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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Old 27th May 2018, 12:07 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by crescent View Post
How many of the men who have walked on the moon are are left?
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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Old 27th May 2018, 12:09 AM   #9
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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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Old 27th May 2018, 01:27 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by PhantomWolf View Post
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.
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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Old 27th May 2018, 08:40 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by foophil View Post
Only four are left.
Soon it'll only be the tortoises left.
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