I’m a big fan of Alan Bean, as some of you probably know. Here he is, descending the ladder, about to walk on the Moon. (And how cool is that??)

Alan L. Bean, Lunar Module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission, starts down the ladder of the Lunar Module (LM) “Intrepid” to join astronaut Charles Conrad, Jr., mission Commander, on the lunar surface.

Image credit: NASA and Charles Pete Conrad

If it’s been 39 years since we left the Moon… how depressing is that? At least we have photos, I guess.

39 years ago, today, scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split lunar boulder during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), which transported Schmitt and Eugene A. Cernan to this extravehicular station from their Lunar Module (LM), is seen in the background. The mosaic is made from two frames from Apollo 17 Hasselblad magazine 140. The two frames were photographed by Cernan.
Image Credit: NASA/Eugene Cernan

I’ve always loved this photo. There’s something a little ethereal about it. Alan Bean gets double points in my book for being a moon-walker/artist.

Astronaut Alan L. Bean, Lunar Module pilot, pauses near a tool carrier during the Apollo 12 spacewalk on the moon’s surface. Commander Charles Conrad, Jr., who took the black-and-white photo, is reflected in Bean’s helmet visor.
Image Credit: NASA

Lunar Lander at 1964 World's Fair

A lunar lander mockup on display at the 1964 World’s Fair. Comment by the poster: “This was the popular all white mid-century modern version.” Agreed!

Apollo 8 Coming Home, by Robert T. McCall, 1969, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

This is one of my favorite Robert McCall paintings of the space program. The beautiful texture of the Moon, combined with the vibrant colors of the Apollo 8 capsule is just magnificent.

Human eyes directly observed the far side of the Moon for the first time on Christmas Eve 1968. Robert McCall imagines the sight of the rocket engine firing to propel the spacecraft out of lunar orbit for its return to Earth.

This work is on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Mall building from May 28 to Oct. 9, 2011, as part of the NASA | Art: 50 Years of Exploration exhibition.
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution

Moonwalk by Andy Warhol

This is another piece I saw at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s NASA art exhibit — one genuine Warhol. (I thought I’d better post something Apollo-ish; been a little shuttle-happy lately!)

This is the crew gantry used by the Apollo 11 crew to enter the command module, high aloft the Saturn V launch tower. It now lives in the rocket park at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

And here I am, standing where heroes once walked:

Saw this fantastic redesign of Tang on The Dieline — as if there weren’t enough reasons to love Tang, now it’s even geekier!

I especially like the scoop. ♥

This spectacular excessively-sized image shows Apollo 17 lifting off in the first night launch of a Saturn V, on December 7, 1972. (Image via the Project Apollo Archive.) I don’t think I’ve ever watched video footage of a Saturn V launch without palpitating. That thing is colossal — it will always be awe-inspiring to me.

I remember when I was growing up, I firmly believed we’d be going back to the Moon at any moment. Real soon, now. I wish I could go back to that.

It was a challenge to find a neat photo to use today, one that I hadn’t used last year on the “big” anniversary. 41 years ago today, man first set foot on the lunar surface. As Pars3c pointed out, it’s good to remember this stuff more often than just the “fives” and “tens”.

It’s hard to know how to feel on this anniversary. A year ago, NASA was still going to the Moon (in a human way.) The public was watching WeChooseTheMoon.org as it counted down the milestones of Apollo 11 in real-time. On a very microscopic level, in the grand scheme of things, I was still figuring out this blog and had not yet rebranded and moved to a fabulous new domain. Also, my theme dictated that my pictures be smaller than they are now. (Hooray for bigger pictures!)

Now, it seems to me that all of NASA is up in the air, seemingly doomed by a statement from the current NASA administrator that we can’t leave LEO without international help. Really? We can’t? If you say so…. At this moment, people are gathered at a conference, presenting the myriad of reasons why the Moon is a great place to go — a fascinating collection of mysteries begging for human hands to explore them. Yet, by our current president’s statement, “we’ve already been there.” Really? It’s over, just like that? Well, if you say so….

And so I find myself hunkering down in the past, the way I’ve always been. I was asked this weekend to contribute to a podcast — and sadly I couldn’t — about how Apollo affected me personally. It’s a hard question. I was born in 1978, so I missed the whole thing by a matter of years. Still, I had the space bug from a very young age, and although I was a child of the Space Shuttle, the moon landings particularly fascinated me. Apollo made me want to become an astronaut, and although things didn’t go that way, it still has a profound effect on me. I dreamed, and still do dream, of the Moon. I’ll probably always be stuck in the past, between Apollo and the Shuttle. Certainly I see no reason to stick my head out into the future. At the moment, NASA gives me no hope at all. Perhaps commercial endeavors will, in time. We’ll see.