Alan LaVern Bean is an American former naval officer and Naval Aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He was the fourth person to walk on the Moon.[1]
The Bean Bubble in Artemis is named after him.[2]
Gemini Program[]
Bean was selected by NASA as part of Astronaut Group 3 in 1963. He was selected to be the backup command pilot for Gemini 10.
Apollo Program[]
When fellow astronaut Clifton Williams was killed in an air crash, a space was opened for Bean on the backup crew for Apollo 9.
Bean was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, the second lunar landing. In November 1969, Bean and Pete Conrad landed on the moon's Ocean of Storms.
Skylab Program[]
Bean was also the spacecraft commander of Skylab 3, the second manned mission to Skylab, July 29 to September 25, 1973. With him on the 59-day, 24,400,000 mile world record setting flight were scientist-astronaut Dr. Owen Garriott and Marine Corps Colonel Jack R. Lousma. During the mission Bean tested a prototype of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and performed one spacewalk outside the Skylab.