Apollo 11 – 40 years!
Wow! On July 20th, it will be 40 years since the moon landing! I saw a piece this evening on BBC America about Alan Bean and his artwork. “Alan Bean became the fourth man to walk on the Moon during Apollo 12 in 1969. After 18 years as an astronaut, he resigned from NASA in 1981 to dedicate his life to the art of painting his memories of Apollo.” Tomorrow there is an exhibit opening at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum called “Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist on Another World.”
NASA has a special 40th anniversary celebratory section on its site.
That’s me some three years ago when I was at the London Science Museum. I’m standing next to the Apollo 10 command module used to fly around the moon in May 1969. The module is much smaller than I imagined it would be, and the exterior looks more like worn-in leather than cold metal. My partner, Derry, was also there. Derry is not only planning to see the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, but wants to be around to see the 100th anniversary! Who knows, it could happen.
The London Science Museum is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing by presenting the premiere of a new live arrangement of Brian Eno’s 1983 album ‘Apollo’. There’s more information about it here. The Big Picture has a collection of 40 awesome images. July 16, 1969, marks the launch of Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. “The entire trip lasted only 8 days, the time spent on the surface was less than one day, the entire time spent walking on the moon, a mere 2 1/2 hours … In the words of astronaut Buzz Aldrin: “In this one moment, the world came together in peace for all mankind.”
“This video excerpt from the documentary Alan Bean: Artist/Astronaut. features Alan Bean in his workshop describing his artistic process and reasons for leaving NASA to make his Apollo-inspired artwork.
Video courtesy of Jeffrey Roth Productions.”