Updated By: LatestGKGS Desk
Death : Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean dead at 86
NASA announced the death of Alan Bean on Saturday
Alan Bean, a NASA astronaut who journeyed into space two times, and as part of Apollo 12 mission in 1969, became the fourth man to walk on the moon, died at the age of 86 at a hospital in Houston.
NASA announced his death on Saturday night nothing that he had fallen ill during two weeks of travel.
Who was Alan Bean?
Alan Bean was born on March 15, 1932, in Wheeler, Tex., and completed high school in Fort Worth.
Bean was a Navy test pilot first and later joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1963.
Bean made his first voyage into space on November 14, 1969, four months after the historic first landing on the moon of Apollo 11, commanded by Neil Armstrong.
After more four days, Bean settled onto the lunar surface on November 19, landing in a broad plain called the Ocean of storms.
The second voyage to space
Four years later, Bean returned to space as commander of the second mission to the Skylab orbiting space station. He and two astronauts, Jack Lousma and Owen Garriott, stayed aloft for 59 days, conducting a variety of biological experiments to test the body's ability to endure the physical and psychological demands of prolonged space flight.
In the late 1970's, Bean became chief of the astronaut training programme, preparing for the first shuttle mission, which was launched in 1981.
