S.S. Alan Bean NG-12 Cargo Delivery Mission to the International Space Station

Northrop Grumman is honored to name the NG-12 Cygnus spacecraft after astronaut Alan Bean. It is the company’s tradition to name each Cygnus spacecraft in honor of an individual who has made a significant impact on the aerospace industry.

Alan Bean was born on March 15, 1935 in Wheeler, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas where he was also part of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). After graduation, Bean was commissioned and spent four years with a jet attack squadron before attending Navy test pilot school. During his Navy service he logged more than 7,000 hours flying time, including more than 4,500 hours

Alan Bean in a jet aircraft.

Bean officially joined the astronaut corps in 1963 as part of Astronaut Group 3. During training, he became the first astronaut to dive in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at Marshall Space Flight Center and was an advocate of using underwater training to prepare future astronauts for spacewalks.

Bean’s first flight as an astronaut was as the Apollo Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 12. The mission was the second landing of humans on the lunar surface and included an extensive series of exploration tasks. The crew deployed an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package that was left on the moon’s surface. They also further demonstrated human’s ability to work in the lunar environment. Bean and fellow astronaut Pete Conrad were also able to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft which had landed on the moon in 1967.

Bean also flew as the commander of Skylab 3, the second crewed mission to Skylab where he spent 59 days aboard the orbiting station setting a new world record. During this mission he tested the Manned Maneuvering Unit, an astronaut propulsion device used during extra vehicular activity that allowed astronauts to perform untethered spacewalks.

After his Apollo and Skylab flights, Bean retired from the Navy but continued to work for NASA as the lead of the Astronaut Office’s Astronaut Candidate Operations and Training Group. Bean also began to dedicate much of his free time to painting scenes inspired by his time at the moon. After 18 years with the agency, Bean retired to pursue painting fulltime. His Apollo- themed paintings featured canvases textured with lunar boot prints and were made using acrylics embedded with small pieces of moon dust.

Bean’s dedication to advancing capabilities that allowed humans to explore space in greater length and detail paved the way for today’s International Space Station. Through his artistic work Bean shared the gift of exploration, giving those of us on earth a never-before- seen perspective of the lunar surface and inspiring future generations to travel back to the moon and beyond. Northrop Grumman is proud to celebrate the life of Alan Bean and his contributions and support of our nation’s space program.