" KISSING THE EARTH "
Alan Bean

650 Signed & Numbered Limited Edition Print
14.5" x 24"
Email-price

Astronaut and Artist Alan Bean describes what he saw from the window of the lunar
module and how he was affected by the sight. "As I looked out my small triangular
-shaped forward window, I could see the sharply curved horizon. We indeed were
orbiting a body much smaller than the earth. As I looked, the earth, some 239,000
miles away, appeared to rapidly rise. Australia was just coming into view.
It was breathtaking.

"After returning to earth, I had to paint my experience. But what would be a
suitable title? I thought of a favorite painting by Winslow Homer, an American artist
of the late 1800s, depicting three fishermen in a small boat. In the distance was
a faint, full moon just being touched by the earth's horizon. Homer's title,
'Kissing the Moon.'

"Seeing our shiny blue and white planet rise above the moon is a wonderful
memory I think of often now. But then, in November of 1969, I wondered
if I would ever see our beautiful planet earth again."

Countersigners: Charles Conrad, Jr. and Dick Gordon

 

ALAN BEAN - October 1998

 

Kissing The Earth - Alan Bean

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