About Amy Bean

Amy Bean ~ Apollo SpeakerHi, I’m Amy Sue Bean, a speaker, a writer, the daughter of Aviator, Astronaut, Artist Alan Bean. I grew up in the history-making community of men, women and children who had a dream, worked together to achieve the impossible, and landed man on the moon. Our family marked the passing of time, not by the changing of the seasons, but by the power of the next rocket launch, and the boundaries broken as man pushed closer and closer to the moon.

Courage, Commitment, Curiosity, Duty, Dedication, Dream-these were the Bean family values, our compasses, as Dad navigated the stars. Watching my father walk on the moon was life-changing; I witnessed an extraordinary endeavor by an ordinary man, I saw the impossible become possible.

Some highlights of my profession, I earned my Naval commission from the University of Texas NROTC, and served at Naval sites around the world in the field of information technology. When my 3 children were young, I took a hiatus from my career to stay-at-home. Later I returned to government service as an Assistant CIO, earned an MBA, managed a small business, then in 2017 I came home to Houston to work with my father. Dad encouraged me to “Carry the Fire”, by writing and speaking about my Moonwalker Daughter experiences, and his Apollo Art.

I do not dream to fly among the stars, my dreams are not light-years away, but closer to homeAmy Bean ~ Apollo Speaker and family. And the dreams in my heart do not feed mankind’s spirit of exploration, they reflect the soul of a daughter, a mother, a woman.

My father was a test pilot, an engineer but he was also an artist, a creative thinker who passed down his belief that with extra effort and dedication to accomplishment I too can make my dreams come true. By sharing insights, stories, and the wisdom I was given as a Moonwalker’s Daughter I hope to inspire you to reach for your special star.

Featured Artwork

This Image Should Have Been on the Cover of Life Magazine by Alan Bean

This Image Should Have Been
on the Cover of Life Magazine
by Alan Bean

Click to Read the Story Behind the Painting...

This Image Should Have Been
on the Cover of Life Magazine

Painting Completed 2011, 7 ½ x 16”,
Textured Acrylic with Moondust on Aircraft Plywood

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin returned to Earth from their historic mission to the Moon in July of 1969, the world’s media was anxious and waiting. They needed color photos of this great adventure to show the people of planet Earth what it was really like way up there. Sure, many had seen it on small black-and-white television sets, but everyone wanted more. They wanted iconic pictures of the first man on the Moon. The first human to step anywhere other than planet Earth.

The film was rushed to the NASA photo lab in Houston. As soon as it was developed, the search began for the best shot of Neil Armstorng. “No, that’s Buzz.” “No, that one is Buzz too.” Now the searchers were starting to panic. Soon they were looking for any shot of Neil. There did not seem to be one.

Someone called Neil, who was fast asleep in isolation in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. “When did you give the camera to Buzz?” “I never did.” “Thanks, Neil.”

All the world was informed the next day that the best and only image of the first man on the moon was the small reflection in the second man on the moon’s visor. Indeed, a close-up of that visor reflection was on the cover of Life Magazine’s next issue.

And so it was accepted as fact for almost seventeen years, until two British researchers independently realized that Buzz had also used the camera for two short periods and had indeed taken one image of Neil at work at the MESA, the Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly, at the front-right side of the lunar module.

I used that photo as the primary reference for this painting. In it we can see Neil closing the Bulk Sample rock box, containing a priceless collection of dusty gray moon rocks.

It is not the iconic photo we all wanted to see of Neil, and to have for future generations as a symbol of how humans just like you and me can accomplish an impossible dream, but it is the first man on the moon.

Neil had not handed the camera to Buzz, as the flight plan indicated that Neil was to place the camera on the MESA, from which Buzz was to pick it up when he was ready to take the photos he was scheduled to take. He then returned it to the MESA where Neil would pick it up later.