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Blue Dot 103: Alan Bean Tribute (Part 2)

alanbean.com
Artwork by Alan Bean

This is the second part of our tribute to Apollo astronaut Alan Bean. Alan was the fourth man to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission in November of 1969 four month's after Neil Armstrong's "One small step for man..." Bean was a talented and prolific painter who was also extraordinarily kind and generous as one of NASA's legendary Apollo era astronauts. We are joined by his good friend and colleague Rusty Schweickart who was one of the first astronauts to fly the lunar module on the Apollo 9 test flight along with commander Jim McDivitt. in the spring of 1969. Then Dave talks to his friend Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on The Moon which was the basis for the Tom Hank's produced mini series on HBO, From The Earth to The Moon. Chaikin met Bean when he was a 12 year old visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and later in life interviewed the astronaut extensively for his book, eventually becoming longtime friends with the astronaut. Audio highlights from the surface of the Moon and the number one pop hit from 1969 also appear on the conclusion of this special two part tribute to an American icon and hero.

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.