If I had a hammer

have you heard the cool story about the apollo 12 tv camera? on earth, when A12 commander pete conrad and LM pilot alan bean were practicing their procedures, they used a block of wood as a stand-in for the camera. up on the bright, sparkling, atmosphere-less moon, bean had the job of setting up the camera. after taking the lens cap off, he inadvertently pointed the camera in the direction of the sun for a mere moment. unfortunately, that moment was enough to pretty much fry the innards of the lens, resulting in the camera being almost entirely useless. at the time, however, neither the crew nor the ground staff knew what the problem was. so the funny part was when bean, trying to get the damn camera to work, hit it with his geology hammer. he still has the hammer and the camera is still on the moon. :)

peeeeeete!

pete conrad was an amazing astronaut. I've been super lucky and fortunate to be able to meet a number of astronauts, including Pete's Apollo 12 crewmates and friends, alan bean and dick gordon. when you hear funny stories about apollo, chances are the story might involve pete. his favorite saying was, "if you can't be good, be colorful."

out of love for the fun-loving, all-navy crew of Apollo 12, I did a painting of Pete unfurling the american flag on the surface of the moon. the perspective is imperfect, so he looks a bit short and squashed. poor pete. :( i think the other aspect is that when you paint the moon you have to acquaint yourself with eight gazillion shades of grey, which I was still adjusting to at the time. ergo, his boots basically blend in to the lunar surface and he looks shorter. another good learning experience! :)