Astronaut Profile
Alan L. Bean
Lunar Module Pilot
Alan Bean became the fourth person to walk on the Moon aboard Apollo 12, then spent nearly two months in orbit commanding Skylab 3 before leaving NASA to paint the Moon he had seen firsthand.
OrbitingTruths Archive
Lunar Module Pilot • Deceased
Biography
The person behind the mission
Alan L. Bean was a United States Navy pilot and NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 12 in 1969, becoming the fourth human to walk on the lunar surface. In 1973 he commanded Skylab 3, spending 59 days aboard America's first space station. After retiring from NASA in 1981, Bean became a full-time artist, mixing lunar dust from his own mission patches into his paint and texturing canvases with tools from his Moon kit, spending the rest of his life recreating what he had seen on the Moon.
Astronaut Details
Born
March 15, 1932
Died
May 26, 2018
Birthplace
Wheeler, Texas, USA
Role
Lunar Module Pilot
Program
Apollo
Time in Space
69 days, 15 hours
EVA Time
7 hours, 45 minutes
Missions
Apollo 12, Skylab 3
Recognition
Awards & Honors
- NASA Distinguished Service Medal
- NASA Exceptional Service Medal
- NASA Space Flight Medal