Alan Bean

A place dedicated to the work of Stina Nordenstam
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heather
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Alan Bean

Post by heather »

I've never tried to start a new thread before- scary!
I hope I am doing it right...!

I just was listening to "The Return of Alan Bean". I really love that song! I am wondering, what does Alan Bean himself think of the song?
Did he really have nothing left that he wanted to do?
All I ask is take me to the sea...

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sound world
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Post by sound world »

Well done,you were brave,Heather!! Pretty easy once you get started...! [bday]

And I'll keep your thread alive...
There's an amazing book called 'The home planet' in which lots of astronauts (US and USSR) are quoted about their experiences looking back at Earth and suddenly realising what an amazingly beautiful place it is,which their military/scientific backgrounds didn't prepare them for.Everywhere else is black nothingness...Several of the spacemen have formed an Astronauts 'union' dedicated to raising environmental awareness after those who went into orbit in different years noticed the effects of pollution etc...
Can't remember if Alan Bean is in there,but I'll go and look.It's in my local Library,an enormous book,pretty hard to miss.
Full of stunning photos too.

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wirbel
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Post by wirbel »

hey heather, it's okay to start a thread; i've had problems with it too and it's scary when no one answers to it, so here you go ;)
But i've always liked "the return of Alan Bean" as one of my most favourites of MOAC too; but i've also always wondered who he was (and Pete and Rusty too! ;) ) but never took the time to explore it further; so maybe someone else can help us clear this up?
by the way, beautiful avatar pic; is that where you live; i love rocky shorelines...

ah, i see that soundworld posted before i finished writing the above... :) love to hear what you find out about Alan!

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heather
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Post by heather »

Awww thanks for your encouragement! [redface]

I wonder why Stina chose Alan for her song- he seems to have no special distinction in history- certainly I had never heard of him. It seems he was the fourth man to walk on the moon, and four isn't an expecially exiting number! Why choose someone from the second lunar landing and not the first?

By the mighty powers of google, I see he has become an artist. So it isn't like there is nothing left that he wanted to do...

His website says:
Our time on the Moon ended much too quickly and, in the years since then, I have created paintings to try to capture the feeling of our Apollo 12 mission, as well as all the other the Apollo missions, too. It's my hope that these paintings will help other people share in the great adventure.
I wonder if Alan Bean has ever said what he thinks about Stina's Song...?

She certainly isn't the only one to write a song about him:
http://www.hefnet.com/Alan%20Bean.htm

And, yes, for some of the year I do indeed live near the shoreline in my picture! Although I certainly did not take that photograph!
All I ask is take me to the sea...

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Post by daniel »

As far as I know Alan Bean is Stina's equivalent to David Bowie's Major Tom ... a made up character. An archetype made up for the purpose of the story. At least that's what it says in the Sonic magazine interview.

But the astronaut thing is true. Many astronauts have had such experiences coming back to earth.
Image

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Post by RobB »

Not sure what the Sonic magazine actually says on the matter but its fairly likely that Stina was refering to Rusty Schweikart (Apollo 9) and Pete Conrad (Apollo 12).
Alan Bean was also one of the crew on Apollo 12.

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Post by sound world »

Today's 'Guardian' newspaper has a long article in the 'Weekend' magazine about the surviving moonwalkers,including Alan Bean,with interviews etc.Yes,Mr Bean has become a fully-fledged painter,his subject-The Moon.Obviously being there changed his life immensely.
No link to the article on the net yet that I can find but it might appear once the paper is a bit older...if not I'll put up a few choice snippets.
Quick scan-No mention of Stina's song. :(

There's a funny bit where the article reflects on the fact that no women went into space during the 60s heyday,bar one solo Russian,Valentina Tereshkova.
The spaceMEN were quite glad of it-'privacy was nonexistent,and going to the toilet meant getting completely naked,positioning a special plastic bag,and then hoping.Anything you can imagine happening...happened' (Charlie Duke,pilot,Apollo 16)
Last edited by sound world on Sat Mar 26, 2005 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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sound world
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Post by sound world »

sound world wrote:Well done,you were brave,Heather!! Pretty easy once you get started...! [bday]

And I'll keep your thread alive...
There's an amazing book called 'The home planet' in which lots of astronauts (US and USSR) are quoted about their experiences looking back at Earth and suddenly realising what an amazingly beautiful place it is,which their military/scientific backgrounds didn't prepare them for.Everywhere else is black nothingness...Several of the spacemen have formed an Astronauts 'union' dedicated to raising environmental awareness after those who went into orbit in different years noticed the effects of pollution etc...
Can't remember if Alan Bean is in there,but I'll go and look.It's in my local Library,an enormous book,pretty hard to miss.
Full of stunning photos too.
And btw he is in this book,three or four passages where he sounds as if he felt quite inspired by the trip rather than the opposite!
I'd recommend anyone to look at this book,it's stunning.

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Re: Alan Bean

Post by RobB »

I was listening to 'The Return of Alan Bean' this morning and it struck me as being quite odd that Stina introduces the song with audio from the Apollo 11 moon landing.....with the famous 'The Eagle has landed' words as spoken by Neil Armstrong !!

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