Tracy Cernan & Amy Bean proudly holding photos of their Apollo Astronaut fathers, Gene Cernan and Alan Bean, 1968 The new Astronauts, the “Apollo 14” are introduced to the nation, 1963 The Astronaut Wives Club, Sue Bean, sitting, third from right, Barbara Cernan, standing, fifth from right, 1964 Lieutenant Gene Cernan and bride Barbara on…
Campsites along the Indian River, FL, July 16, 1969 Apollo 12 lunar module, LM-6, is lifted by overhead crane in preparation for the second lunar landing, 1969 Apollo 12’s Saturn V (AS-507) is slowly moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building for its 3.5 mile crawl to Launchpad 39A, September, 1969 Apollo 11 launch from the…
Amy Bean, Leaving the Apollo 12 Launch, 11-14-69, Cape Kennedy, FL Firing Room 2 of the Launch Control Center in the early moments of the Apollo 12 launch on their overhead data display boards. 11-14-69 Image credit: NASA Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean’s wife, Sue readies for the moon landing. 11-16-69 Astronaut Alan…
Apollo 12 Launch Invitation Conrad, Gordon and Bean head to the launchpad, November 14, 1969 The White Room, Apollo 12 astronauts, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean load into the Saturn V for launch President Nixon watches the Apollo 12 liftoff from Cape Kennedy, FL Astronaut Alan Bean’s wife, Sue Bean and daughter, Amy leave for…
An Astronaut’s Journey by Alan Bean
Painting Completed 2003, 14″x 21″, Textured Acrylic with Moondust on Aircraft Plywood
Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot Harrison ‘Jack” Schmitt is off in search of another important rock.
Jack was a talented geologist who was sent for flight training with the Air Force after being selected as an astronaut. Rather than the other way around as it was for most of us. Since getting to the Moon and back would be the biggest challenge, seasoned military test pilots were the first choice as Apollo crew members. This approach was working well since the procedures and the techniques honed flying high-performance airplanes were the fundamental building blocks of the skills needed for controlling and operating a spaceship.
Once on the Moon, it was a different matter. Moonwalkers needed to select and collect rocks and dirt samples, deploy experiments, and make technical observations about the strange world around us. So NASA gave us pilot types extensive training as geologists. We invested much time and effort: classroom lectures, laboratory study, and field trips to the sites on earth that our instructor thought would most nearly represent what we might find on the Moon. By the time we walked on the Moon, we were all pretty good geologists, but not as good as Jack. Because of this, a very vocal segment of the scientific community kept shouting that we needed to send a bona fide geologist/pilot, not a pilot/geologist like all of us who had flown before.
Jack flew a great mission. His in-flight performance as a geologist/pilot was equal to that of any pilot/geologist perhaps because the commander did all the flying. In turn, I believe his contribution on the moon as a geologist/pilot was no greater than any pilot/geologist, perhaps because the time constraints made collecting samples much more important than making specific, detailed scientific observations. There seems to be at least two career trajectories that will create a competent lunar module pilot.
