Top 32 Quotes & Sayings by Alan Bean

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American astronaut Alan Bean.
Last updated on December 5, 2024.
Alan Bean

Alan LaVern Bean was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an astronaut by NASA in 1963 as part of Astronaut Group 3.

I do not believe that anyone from outer space has ever visited the Earth.
If you remember back to some of the television we saw, Buzz and Neil on the Moon with Apollo 11. Black and white. They were bouncing around a lot. They were really bouncing on their tip toes. Quite fun to do.
I would say I had zero philosophical thoughts at that time. I was operating on a timed checklist that we've been trained to do, to try to maximize every really minute on the moon.
I believe that 100, 200, 300 years from now, all these paintings will be around because they're the first paintings of humans doing things off this Earth. — © Alan Bean
I believe that 100, 200, 300 years from now, all these paintings will be around because they're the first paintings of humans doing things off this Earth.
We knew it was going to be difficult to get to the moon. We didn't know how difficult.
History has spurts and then is steady, and then maybe even backing up a step, and then forward again.
It was hard for me to believe. I would look down and say, 'This is the moon, this is the moon,' and I would look up and say, 'That's the Earth, that's the Earth,' in my head. So, it was science fiction to us even as we were doing it.
I had the good fortune and the gift to be one of the 12 men to walk on the moon.
But I'm the only one who can paint the moon, because I'm the only one who knows whether that's right or not.
Eventually there are going to be cities in space.
I feel like there's too many paintings left unpainted that I just don't want to take the time away.
I have the nicest life in the world.
As I ran along, I remember... saying to myself, 'You know, this is really the moon. We're really here... That's the Earth up there.' And I said it two or three times to myself.
On Earth, I weighed 150 pounds; my suit and backpack weighed another 150. 300 pounds. Up there, I weighed only 50. So I could prance around on my toes. It was quite easy to do.
We're going through all the checklist, getting in position to make the entry and all that... And I think either Pete, Dick, or I said, 'Well, I wonder how those parachutes are doing?' And then someone else said... 'Well, we'll find out in about 55 minutes!'
I was more of a person that liked flying and operating high-performance machinery, and I liked that, the skill it took, the intelligence it took to do that.
I found I have to stay painting.
Just like some day, say, 1000 years from now, when we can go to another star and see a planet, that's what we would do because we will know how to cure cancer, cure birth defects, so we would teach them.
One of the great things about the universe is that it's fair.
The moon is very rugged.
At one-sixth gravity in that suit, you have to move in a different way.
I feel blessed every day when I'm working on these paintings... the first artist to ever go to another world and try to tell stories that people care about.
It's hard not to be excited when you're going to find a way to land on the moon.
But I found that being an artist and doing accurate work is very difficult.
I can remember walking on the moon. — © Alan Bean
I can remember walking on the moon.
I think everything depends on money.
As the centuries unfold, millions of artists will live on the moon and paint the moon and Mars as we go out into the universe.
Test pilots have a litmus test for evaluating problems. When something goes wrong, they ask, "Is this thing still flying?" If the answer is yes, then there's no immediate danger, no need to overreact.
I find color schemes that I just like and that just feel right.
I feel like everyone who goes to The University of Texas is blessed and lucky to be there because they're getting a chance to be as good as they can be.
Frequently on the lunar surface I said to myself, 'This is the Moon, that is the Earth. I'm really here, I'm really here!'
It seems farther away now because there are no rockets getting there. Nobody is going.
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