Alan Bean signed photo

Alan Bean was selected by NASA as part of group 3 in 1963. He was selected to be the backup Command Pilot for Gemini 10 but was unsuccessful in securing an early Apollo flight assignment. When fellow astronaut Clifton Williams was killed in an air crash, a space was opened for Bean on the back-up crew for Apollo 9.

Captain Bean was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, the second lunar landing.

Captain Bean was also the spacecraft commander of Skylab 3, the second manned mission to Skylab, July 29, 1973 to September 25, 1973. During the mission Bean tested a prototype of the Manned Manoeuvring Unit and performed one space walk outside the Skylab.

Captain Bean was backup spacecraft commander of the United States flight crew for the joint American-Russian Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Captain Bean retired from the Navy in October 1975 but continued as head of the Astronaut Candidate Operations and Training Group within the Astronaut Office in a civilian capacity.
(NASA glossy)