4th astronaut on moon

Former Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, who was the fourth man to walk on the moon and later turned to painting to chronicle the moon landings on canvas, has died. He was 86.

Bean was the lunar module pilot for the second moon landing mission in November 1969. He spent 31 hours on the moon during two moonwalks, collecting 75 pounds of rocks and soil for study back on Earth, according to a statement from NASA and Bean’s family that announced his death.

Bean died Saturday in Houston after a short illness, the statement said.

“As all great explorers are, Alan was a boundary pusher,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. “We will remember him fondly as the great explorer who reached out to embrace the universe.”

With Bean’s passing, only four of 12 Apollo moonwalkers are still alive — Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt.

After Apollo, Bean commanded the second crewed flight to the United States’ first space station, Skylab, in 1973. On that mission, he orbited the Earth for 59 days and traveled 24.4 million miles, setting a world record at the time.

Born March 15, 1932, in Wheeler, Texas, Bean received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955. He attended the Navy Test Pilot School and was one of 14 trainees selected by NASA for its third group of astronauts in October 1963. Bean retired in 1981. His paintings feature canvases textured with lunar boot prints and embedded with pieces of his mission patches.

He is survived by his wife, a sister and two children.