Kissing the Earth

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 obiting 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