Alan Bean
Alan Bean—Apollo XII astronaut, commander of Skylab II and artist—was born in 1932 in Wheeler, Texas. In 1950 he was selected for an NROTC scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1955, he was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. Holder of eleven world records in space and astronautics, as well as numerous national and international honors, Alan Bean has had a most distinguished peacetime career. His awards include two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the Yuri Gagarin Gold Medal and the Robert J. Collier Trophy. As part of the Apollo XII crew, he became the fourth of only twelve men ever to walk on the Moon. As the spacecraft commander of Skylab Mission II, he set a world record: 24,400,000 miles traveled during the 59-day flight. He has also launched himself successfully into a new career as an artist.
When he wasn’t flying, Bean always enjoyed painting as a hobby. Attending night classes at St. Mary’s College in Maryland in 1962, Alan experimented with landscapes. During training and between missions as a test pilot and astronaut, he continued private art lessons. On space voyages, his artist’s eye and talent enabled him to document impressions of the Moon and space to be preserved later on canvas. His art reflects the attention to detail of the aeronautical engineer, the respect for the unknown of the astronaut and the unabashed appreciation of a skilled painter.
The space program has seen unprecedented achievements and Bean realized that most of those who participated actively in this adventure would be gone in forty years. He knew that if any credible artistic impressions were to remain for future generations, he must paint them now. “My decision to resign from NASA in 1981 was based on the fact that I am fortunate enough to have seen sights no other artist ever has,” Bean said, “and I hope to communicate these experiences through art.”
"Some months after I had reported to the manned spacecraft center in Houston, Texas, I was given a silver astronaut pin to wear in my lapel. It was a shooting star with an orbit around its tail. I wore that pin proudly until November of 1969, when Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and I climbed into our Apollo 12 spacecraft for our flight to the Moon. I had my silver pin tucked safely in the left tight pocket of my white spacesuit, and it was still safely inside my pocket as I descended the lunar module ladder for my first steps on the Ocean of Storms. As soon as I learned to stand and walk in the light gravity, I moved just outboard of the left leg for our lunar module, to the lip of a large crater. On the far wall I could see the Surveyor III unmanned spacecraft that had landed in this lonely crater some 31 months earlier. We had made a pinpoint landing.
Oh so carefully, I removed my silver pin, took one last look at it, and gave it my strongest underarm toss out toward Surveyor. I can still remember how it flashed in the bright sunlight then disappeared in the distance. It was the only star I ever saw up in the black sky, the sunlight was just too bright on the Moon's surface to see any of the others. I often think of my silver pin resting in the dust of Surveyor Crater, just as bright and shiny as it ever was. It'll be there for millions and millions of years or until some tourists finds it and brings it back to Earth.
I wear a similar gold astronaut pin on my lapel now, signifying that I am a flight astronaut, having flown above 50 miles from Earth. That pin made the trip to the lunar surface with me, too, neatly tucked inside a different pocket."
This 33" by 22" Limited Edition Canvas, edition size 250, is signed by the artist.
All Limited Edition prints are signed and numbered (S/N) by the artist. Limited Edition prints are restricted to a certain number. For example, if 400 prints are made from an original painting, once they’re gone, that’s it. There is no limit to the number of open edition prints of a particular painting. That’s why Limited Edition prints are more expensive — and more valuable to collectors — than "open" edition. Rare objects are more valuable.
All Limited Edition artwork is subject to availability at time of order. Although seller strives to remain currrent as to inventory, seller reserves the right to cancel a sale if item is no longer available at time of purchase.
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