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ALANBEAN-CORETUBE.jpgCore-Tube105 visiteDalla Galleria Pittorica dell'Astronauta Alan Laverne Bean: un Omaggio alla Luna ed a quei pochi che ebbero il coraggio, la fortuna ed il privilegio di camminarci sopra.
Ma lasciamo che sia "Alan" a raccontarci questa storia: la "Sua Storia"...
"...When my book, "Apollo, An Eyewitness Account", was published in October of 1998, I felt an overall sense of satisfaction. I was, in fact, preserving some of my special memories of the Apollo Program. This was the reason I resigned from NASA to become an artist.
I was moving right along but I noticed my goals for the future were even more ambitious. I wanted to paint the Moon more beautifully than I had done so far, as colorful as it could be painted, and still look like the Moon to me, a worthy but elusive goal.
I stopped painting commissions and began painting several series of studies to explore and develop new color techniques and combinations. This intense and dedicated effort consumed me for the better part of a year with the resulting changes first coming to full fruition in this painting.
Sometimes when I look at this painting I wonder if the changes were all that much. I question if anyone other than me can see them or even care? I don't know. Was it worth the time? I hope so...".
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ALANBEAN-FANTASY.jpg"Buddies" forever87 visitePete Conrad, Dick Gordon and I were assigned by head astronaut Deke Slayton as the backup crew for Apollo 9. This was super news because this meant we would fly three missions subsequent and make one of the first Moon landings.
The most experienced astronaut was designated commander, in charge of all aspects of the mission including flying the lunar module. Prudent thinking suggested that the next most experienced crew member be assigned to take care of the command module since it had a heat shield and was our only way back home. This left the least experienced to accompany the commander. Pete Conrad had flown two Gemini flights, the second with Dick Gordon as his crew mate. I had not flown at all.
During training, Pete and I frequently practiced our lunar surface activities such as emplacing experiments, gathering rock samples, or making observations. We were excited. We were going to have the ultimative adventure someone in our profession could experience. But while we did, Dick Gordon would be orbiting 60 miles above us. We often fantasized Dick joining us on the Moon for all the fun, but we could never really find a way. But now I'm an artist and in my paintings I can have it my way. Now, at last, our best friend has come the last 60 miles.
One last story. Dick was the more experienced astronaut, yet I got the prize assignment. In the three years of training preceding our mission, he never once said: "It's not fair, I wish I could walk on the Moon too." I do not have his unwavering discipline or strength of character.
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ALANBEAN-LASTMAN.jpgThe Last of the "Twelve"...74 visitenessun commento
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ALANBEAN-LUNARROVER.jpgLunar "Grand Prix"63 visiteApollo 16 Commander John Young is putting the Lunar Rover through a full test. This was the second mission with the Rover onboard and this Lunar Grand Prix would allow John to evaluate the performance of the Rover in the light gravity and the dusty, cratered, and rocky surface of the Moon.
His companion, Charlie Duke, is photographing it all with the 16-mm Data Acquisition Camera normally mounted on the Rover, but hand-held temporarily to document the Rover motion.
John later said:"The tendency was to drive wide open or very close to that and take what you got. The best reference to speed control was the speedometer, as I really didn't have a feel for the difference between 7 and 10 Km per hour."
Later, he demonstrated a sharp turn at ax speed, about 10 Km per hour. I made the Rover end break out to show the engineers how it looked.
It is no problem as all I had to do was cut back like I do when driving in snow...I didn't get up to any great speed, maybe 10 clicks at the most, but the terrain around there was too rough and rocky for that kind of foolishness..."
Charlie, who was filming it all, told Houston, "...man, Indy has never seen a driver like this."
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ALANBEAN-MANKINDROCK.jpgMankind Rock99 visiteThis is Gene Cernan as he was near the end of the third moonwalk of Apollo 17. He and astronaut-geologist Jack Schmitt had completed most of their work and were just gathering final equipment and samples, putting them aboard the lunar module. At this point, Gene turned toward the television camera and said, "Jack has picked up a very significant rock, composed of many fragments of many sizes and many shapes, probably from all parts of the Moon, probably billions of years old, but a rock of all sizes and shapes and even colors that had grown together to become a cohesive rock, outlasting the nature of space, sort of living together in a very coherent, very peaceful manner. We'd like to share a piece of this rock with many of the countries throughout the world. We hope that this will be a symbol of what our feelings are." Then they continued their preparations for leaving the Moon.
Gene knew he would be the last man on the Moon for quite a long time. As he closed his checklist and prepared for his ascent up the ladder, he said, "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave it as we came and, God willing, we shall return with peace and hope for all mankind." Gene Cernan, last man on the Moon, 5:34 a.m. GMT, December 14, 1972.
I felt this was such a fitting and proper occasion in the history of manned lunar exploration that I created two nearly identical paintings of this moment.
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ALANBEAN-MOONLIGHT.jpgThe Moon83 visitenessun commento
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ALANBEAN-MOTHEREARTH.jpgMother Earth100 visitenessun commento
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ALANBEAN-PRAYER.jpgLunar Prayer170 visitenessun commento
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ALANBEAN-SELFPORTRAIT.jpgIn the dust...84 visiteAutoritratto, nella polvere (o nella "nebbia dei ricordi"...) dell'Astronauta Alan Laverne Bean.
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Acheron_Fossae-Fantasy.jpgSunset over Acheron Fossae94 visite"...E se non ci fosse nulla, dopo questo Cammino, nulla, se non l'Eterna Oscurità, e l'Oblìo, ed il Silenzio senza fine, allora mi fermerei, ad un istante dall'Orizzonte.
Un istante solo: non di più, non di meno.
Solo, ad un Passo dall'Eternità, mi metterei a sedere, guarderei il Sole scendere e, mentre le Stelle si affanneranno a dipingere il Cielo, chiuderei gli occhi e, nella sera, darei il benvenuto a questo Ultimo Sogno..."
P.C. Floegers - "Conversations"MareKromium
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Afterlight.jpgAfterlight (by Dr Gianluigi Barca)121 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Almahata-Sitta15_2048.jpgAlmahata Sitta 1578 visiteDa "NASA - Picture of the Day", del giorno 28 Marzo 2009:"Small Asteroid 2008 TC3 fell to Earth at dawn on October 7, 2008, tracking through the skies over the Nubian Desert in Northern Sudan. That event was remarkable because it was the first time an asteroid was detected in space before crashing into planet Earth's Atmosphere.
It was generally assumed the asteroid itself had completely disintegrated to dust. But, based on satellite and ground observations of the atmospheric impact event, Dr. Mauwia Shaddad of the University of Khartoum, aided by Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, led an expedition of students and staff to the area, combing the desert for surviving fragments.
On December 6, 2008, 2 hours after their search began, the first meteorite was found. The team ultimately collected some 280 small meteorites, now called Almahata Sitta, with a total mass of about 5 kilograms -- the first material recovered from a known asteroid. In stark contrast to the lighter-colored stones, the black fragment in the picture is Almahata Sitta meteorite number 15. About 4 centimeters in diameter, it is seen as it came to rest on the desert floor".
Nota Lunexit: la fotografia, sebbene suggestiva, presenta - a nostro parere - delle notevoli incongruenze di texture e colore. In altre parole, sembra più un image-composite che un vero e proprio single still.
Abbiamo quindi leggermente modificato la colorizzazione del frame, adattando il suolo al colore tipico della superficie del Deserto Sudanese (la "fotografia" originale sembra essere parecchio sovrasaturata) ed il colore blu del cielo è stato leggermente abbassato di tonalità ed intensificato (così ricreando - in visione - le condizioni atmosferiche tipiche dei cieli che sovrastano regioni desertiche in cui l'Atmosfera è estremamente secca e l'Opacità - Atmosferica - bassissima o nulla).MareKromium
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