The fourth man to step on the moon, astronaut Alan Bean, died today at the age of 86 years in a hospital in Houston (Texas, USA) after suffering a “sudden” illness, according to NASA in a statement .
Bean was part of the Apollo 12 mission, which made the second lunar landing in history in 1969, and became the fourth man to step on the satellite after Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Pete Conrad.
“Alan was the strongest and friendliest man I’ve ever met, he was the love of my life and I miss him so much.” A native of Texas, Alan died peacefully in Houston surrounded by those who loved him, “Leslie Bean said in that note. , wife of the astronaut for 40 years.
According to information from the US space agency, Bean spent 31 hours on the moon, collecting lunar samples and implementing several experiments with the commander of the mission, Conrad.
With the death of Bean, only four people of the twelve who have stepped on the Moon are still alive: Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott, Charlie Duke and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt.
Beyond its mission to the Moon, NASA highlighted in the farewell note the work that Bean carried out aboard the Skylab space station, which was operational between 1973 and 1979.
From there, the team led by Bean managed to generate a large collection of data on Earth’s resources and captured 76,000 photographs of the Sun to help scientists better understand their effects on the solar system. efe
