T H E T R U E S T O R Y O F A L A N B E A N
ILLUSTRATED BY SEAN RUBIN
WRITTEN BY DEAN ROBBINS
T H E T R U E S T O R Y O F A L A N B E A N
ILLUSTRATED BY SEAN RUBIN
WRITTEN BY DEAN ROBBINS
SCHOLASTIC INC.
“My paintings record the beginnings of a quest never to end, our journey out among the stars.” —Alan Bean
Lights ! ashed. A rocket rumbled. Alan Bean’s dream was about to come true.
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The rocket roared off the launchpad!
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Alan shook in his heavy spacesuit. The other astronauts were shaking, too. Richard Gordon ! ipped switches on the control panel. “That’s a lovely liftoff!” Pete Conrad shouted over the noise.
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The shaking stopped as the spacecraft gained speed. Alan was in outer space! He had trained for so long as an astronaut and a scientist, and soon he would walk on the Moon!
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Alan gazed out the window, marveling at the shapes and colors in space. The sky turned to black. The Earth was a blue-and-white ball glowing in the darkness. The Moon was many shades of gray. Its mountains and craters seemed bigger the closer he got.
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Alan loved to think about the way things looked. As a boy, he made model airplanes to hang in his room.
Green for the wings. Red stripes for the tail. Yellow stars along the sides.
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He dreamed of being a brave pilot himself one day.
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Alan volunteered for navy ! ight training. He learned to take off . . . soar through the air . . . and glide in for a smooth landing.
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The Earth looked breathtaking from the cockpit. The white clouds above. The green " elds below. The blue all around. Alan wished he could paint what he saw.
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He found an art class to teach him about patterns and forms. Alan dabbed his brush on canvas to paint a vase of ! owers. His ! owers didn’t look exactly real, but he didn’t want them to. They were brighter and bolder than real ones because he let his imagination take over.
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The painting showed how stunning the ! owers looked through Alan’s eyes. How they made him feel.
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The spacecraft ! ew 240,000 miles in four days. The Moon was so close Alan could see valleys and ridges. He and Pete got ready to walk on a new world!
Alan strapped on an oxygen pack so he could breathe outside. He stepped through the hatch to the most amazing sight.
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The Moon was barren, but also beautiful in its own way. Gray dust as far as he could see. Thousands of black craters. Hard white sunlight. And everything perfectly still.
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Alan and Pete pushed a red, white, and blue American ! ag into the dust.
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Alan puzzled over the strangeness of outer space. He and Pete took dozens of photographs. They set up scienti " c experiments to measure the Moon’s soil and gases.
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He could run and run without getting tired. His boots made deep marks where no one had stepped before. Even in his spacesuit, Alan was much lighter than on Earth. He had fun bouncing around on his tiptoes.
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The three astronauts zoomed back to Earth at 25,000 miles an hour. They splashed into the Paci " c Ocean to end their awesome adventure.
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Alan’s friends asked him about his time in space. What was it like up there? He tried to explain the Moon’s barren beauty, but words weren’t enough. And his photographs just showed a grim and gloomy place.
There was so much more to the Moon than that. So much magic and mystery. How could Alan share his story so others would understand?
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He pulled out his paints and brushes. Alan knew he was the only artist ever to leave the Earth. The only artist ever to see the Moon up close. Maybe a painting could show how it felt to be in outer space?
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Alan began his work like a scientist. He built a model of the Moon’s surface and used an electric light as the Sun. The model helped him paint the angles and shadows just right. 27
Then Alan let his imagination take over. He added red and purple to the gray dust. Blue and green to the black craters. Yellow and orange to the white sunlight.
The Moon didn’t look exactly real, but Alan didn’t want it to. The painting showed how stunning outer space looked through his eyes. How it made him feel.
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He hoped others would feel the same thing. The wonder of walking on a new world.
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Alan liked his Moon painting so much he did another one. And another. And another after that. He mixed even brighter, bolder colors on his palette.
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Could he add real pieces of outer space to his paintings? Alan tried stamping them with astronaut boots. He scratched them with tools he’d used on the Moon. He sprinkled dust from his spacesuit onto the wet paint. The surfaces grew as rough and rugged as the Moon itself. 31
A museum displayed Alan’s paintings for everyone to see. Other astronauts came to remember their own awesome adventures in space. Boys and girls came, too. They marveled at the shapes and colors. They felt the wonder of walking on a new world.
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Some dreamed of being brave astronauts themselves one day.
Others dreamed of being great artists.
And some dreamed of being both.
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Alan Bean (1932–2018) grew up loving airplanes. He also loved making beautiful things, beginning with the model planes he hung in his bedroom. He took his " rst painting class in 1961, at the same time that he trained to be a daring navy pilot.
In 1963, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chose Bean as an astronaut for the new United States space program. After six years of intense physical and scienti " c training, he traveled to the Moon with the Apollo 12 mission. On November 19, 1969, he became only the fourth person to walk on the lunar surface. Bean returned home to a hero’s welcome, with a parade in his honor and congratulations from the president of the United States. He ! ew another mission into space but left NASA in 1981 to work on his paintings. While other astronauts were pilots and scientists, Alan was also an artist—the only one who’d traveled to another world. In his paintings, he hoped to show what it looked like through his eyes.
Science had sent people to the Moon, but Alan knew that art could express how it felt to be up there.
Bean’s paintings combined his skills as a scientist and an artist. He used exact measurements for the details, but he also used imagination to capture the dizzying sensation of walking on the Moon. By sprinkling his paintings with moon dust, scraping them with moon tools, and stamping them with moon boots, he tried to make a direct connection with his experiences in space. As I worked with Alan on this book, I saw how much he valued sharing these experiences with a new generation. By then he was in his 80s, a time when he could have simply rested on his laurels as one of 12 humans to walk on the Moon. Instead, he generously offered to help with the story and to contribute examples of his paintings. I could tell he was passionate about showing young readers what he saw on his fantastic voyage beyond Earth’s orbit.
“I think of myself not as an astronaut who paints,” Alan said, “but as an artist who was once an astronaut.”
—Dean Robbins
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This photo of Alan Bean, taken by Pete Conrad during the Apollo 12 mission, shows Alan collecting some lunar soil to take back to Earth.
This partial view of Earth with Australia on the horizon was taken by the Apollo 12 crew.
This photo of Alan Bean driving a core sample tube into the lunar surface was taken during the Apollo 12 mission on November 20, 1969.
“AS I LOOKED OUT my small triangular-shaped forward window, I could see the sharply curved horizon.We indeedwere orbiting a body much smaller than the Earth. As I looked, the Earth, some 239,000 miles away now, appeared to rapidly rise. Australia was just coming into view. It was breathtaking.”
“I VIVIDLY REMEMBER standing near Halo Crater and hammering this core tube into the Moon. Later, back on Earth, we would " nd out that, although there was some change in grain size and color, the granular material remained remarkably consistent with depth.”
“WHEN I LOOK AT this painting now, I think it has some of the most beautiful color harmonies I’ve ever created.”
—Alan Bean
—Alan Bean
—Alan Bean
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Beginning in the 1950s, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) competed in “The Space Race,” with each country trying to outdo the other in space ! ight.
Pioneer 4 spacecraft
In a special address, American president John F. Kennedy says these famous words: “I believe itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man that this nation should commit
Astronaut John Glenn and the Mercury Friendship 7 spacecraft
US mission Apollo 11 lands on the Moon at 4:18 p.m. EST, with astronauts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in the lunar module. Armstrong becomes the " rst person to walk on the Moon. July 20 1969
American astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil Grissom, and Edward White lose their lives in a " re during a pre ! ight test for Apollo 1. January 27 1967
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) begins
USSR cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the " rst human to orbit Earth in Vostok 3KA . April 12 1961
NASA retrieves the " rst data from another planet— Venus—from US spacecraft Mariner 2. December 14 1962
US spacecraft Mariner 9 becomes the " rst to orbit another planet, Mars. November 13 1971
The USSR launches the " rst arti " cial satellite, Sputnik 1 , into
on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” May 25 1961
Soviet cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov is the " rst man to walk in space. March 18 1965
US spacecraft Pioneer 10 becomes the " rst to ! y by Jupiter. December 3 1973
US spacecraft Pioneer 11 is the " rst to ! y by Saturn. September 1 1979
operations in the US. October 1 1958
Earth orbit. October 4 1957
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November 3 1957 The USSR launches the " rst animal into space, a dog named Laika.
March 3 1959 The US launches Pioneer 4 , its " rst spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity and ! y past the Moon.
May 5 1961
February 20 1962 American astronaut John Glenn circles Earth three times in the Mercury Friendship 7 spacecraft.
June 16 1963 Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the " rst woman in space on Vostok 6 .
February 3 1966
December 24 1968 Apollo 8 becomes the " rst US mission to orbit the Moon, arriving on Christmas Eve. A message from astronauts Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell is broadcast live, along with pictures of Earth and the Moon.
November 19 1969 US mission Apollo 12 is the second to land on the Moon, with astronauts Alan Bean and Pete
December 2 1971 USSR spacecraft Mars 3 becomes the " rst to soft- land on Mars.
July 17 1975 USSR and US spacecraft dock in space to carry out the " rst international space mission, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., becomes the " rst American in space.
USSR spacecraft Luna 9 is the " rst to soft-land on the Moon.
Conrad in the lunar module.
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Mariner 9 spacecraft
Voyager 2
Hubble Space Telescope
Image of Mercury from MESSENGER
The space shuttle Columbia breaks apart upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere, killing astronauts Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Rick Husband, William McCool, and Ilan Ramon, approximately 16 minutes prior to the scheduled landing. February 1 2003
Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, space shuttle Challenger explodes, killing the entire crew, including astronauts Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ron McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Dick Scobee, and Michael Smith. January 28 1986
Astronaut Guy Bluford becomes the " rst African
Franklin Chang Díaz becomes the " rst Hispanic American in space on the space shuttle Columbia . January 12 1986
Ellen Ochoa becomes the " rst Hispanic woman in space on the space shuttle Discovery . April 8 1993
Cassini-Huygens lander touches down on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. January 14 2005
American in space on the space shuttle Challenger . August 30 1983
US spacecraft MESSENGER is the " rst to orbit Mercury. March 17 2011
Hubble Space Telescope launches. April 24 1990
US spacecraft Galileo is the " rst to orbit Jupiter. December 7 1995
First expedition of the International Space Station. October 31 2000
The " rst US spacecraft lands on an asteroid. February 12 2001
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June 18 1983
January 24 1985
January 14 1986 US spacecraft Voyager 2 is the " rst to ! y by Uranus.
August 24 1989
September 12 1992 Mae Jemison becomes the " rst African American woman in space on the space shuttle Endeavour .
February 3 1995 Eileen Collins becomes the " rst female pilot of a space shuttle
May 2 1997
November 2 2000 The " rst US and Russian resident crew occupies the International Space Station.
November 23 2002 John Herrington becomes the " rst member of a Native American tribe in space on the space shuttle Endeavour .
July 1 2004 The joint US, Italian, and
October 10 2007 Peggy Whitson becomes the " rst female commander of the International Space Station.
Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the " rst American woman in
Ellison Onizuka becomes the " rst Asian American in space on the space shuttle Discovery .
Voyager 2 is the " rst spacecraft to ! y by Neptune.
Kalpana Chawla becomes the " rst woman of Indian origin in space on the space shuttle Columbia .
European mission Cassini-Huygens becomes the " rst to orbit Saturn.
space on the space shuttle Challenger .
mission on Discovery .
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Bibliography: Bean, Alan, and Andrew Chaikin. Apollo: An Eyewitness Account . Seymour, CT: The Greenwich Workshop Press, 1998. Bean, Alan. My Life As an Astronaut . New York: Aladdin Books, 1988. Bean, Alan. Painting Apollo: First Artist on Another World . Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2009. Beattie, Donald A. Taking Science to the Moon: Lunar Experiments and the Apollo Program . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Dempsey, Amy. Styles, Schools, and Movements: The Essential Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art . London, UK: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Doss, Erika. Twentieth-Century American Art . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002. Grant, R.G. Flight: The Complete History . London, UK: DK Publishing, 2007. Murray, Charles, and Catherine Bly Cox. Apollo: The Race to the Moon . New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.
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Dedications: To Alan Bean, for his kindness and generosity. —Dean Robbins For Sammy and Charlie, in memory of Tom Wolfe and Alan Bean. —Sean Rubin
Acknowledgments: Thank you to Orli Zuravicky for her editorial wizardry and to Marietta Zacker for her many talents. —D.R.
Photos ©: throughout: NASA; Alan Bean: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM 2014-06215). The text type was set in Futura. The display type was set in DragonTS. Book design by Kirk Benshoff. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012. Text copyright © 2019 by Dean Robbins. Art copyright © 2019 by Sean Rubin. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. Made in North Point, Hong Kong. 137
ISBN-13: 978-1-338-75245-8 ISBN-10: 1-338-75245-6 SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
“It is my dream that on the wings of my paintbrush many people will see what I saw and feel what I felt, walking on another world some 240,000 miles from my studio here on planet Earth.” —Alan Bean
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