Astronaut Alan Bean, who was the fourth person to walk on the moon, has died.
A statement released by NASA and family members says Bean died Saturday, at the age of 86, in Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, after a short illness that struck him while traveling in Fort Wayne, Indiana, two weeks ago.
His wife of 40 years, Leslie Bean, said in the statement that ‘Alan was the strongest and kindest man I ever knew. He was the love of my life and I miss him dearly.’
The fourth man to walk on the moon, Alan Bean (in 2008), has died at age 86, following a sudden illness. He died on Saturday at Texas’ Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston
She said that Bean, a native Texan, died peacefully while surrounded by his loved ones.
Bean was born in 1932, in Wheeler, Texas, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955.
He then attended the US Navy’s Test Pilot School and accumulated more than 5,500 hours of flying time in 27 different types of aircraft.
In October 1963, Bean became one of 14 trainees selected by NASA for its third group of astronauts.
Bean was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, which made the second moon landing in 1969.
Then Lunar Module Pilot Bean (left) poses with his Apollo 12 moon mission crewmen Command Module Pilot Richard Gordon (center) and Commander Charles Conrad in this 1969 photo
After retiring from the US Navy and NASA, Bean (in 2009) created Apollo-themed paintings including this one, made using pieces of his moon dust-stained mission patches
He then commanded the second crewed flight to the United States’ first space station, Skylab, in 1973. On that mission, he lived and worked on board the Skylab, orbiting the Earth for 59 days, traveling 24.4million miles.
Bean spent a total of 69 days in space, including 31 hours on the moon.
He retired from the Navy in 1975 and NASA in 1981.
In the four decades before he died, he spent his time making Apollo-themed paintings featured canvases textured with lunar boot prints, made using acrylics embedded with small pieces of his moon dust-stained mission patches.
Beam is survived by his wife Leslie, sister Paula Stott, and children Amy Sue and son Clay.