The farce of the airmen on the crew of Apollo 12 led to pornography on the Moon

Featuring the crew of Commander "Pete" Conrad in the Navy, Al Bean Lunar Module pilot and command module pilot Dick Gordon, the Apollo 12 had an unprecedented level of cohesion in many respects, including including the possession and conduct of Chevrolet Corvettes assorted.

Launched on Nov. 14, the spacecraft was struck by lightning and almost doomed to failure just after leaving the launch tower, without the quick thinking and teamwork of the electrical, environmental manager. and Consumable Products (EECOM) John Aaron and Bean, who have remedied that prevented NASA from aborting the mission.

It was feared that lightning had damaged the parachute system of the control module (making a secure landing impossible), but the crew was never informed, as it could not have done anything about it. way.

When the time came for the Intrepid Lunar Module to land, Conrad prepared to settle in an area dubbed "Pete's Parking Lot", the same area used by the Surveyor 3 landing probe and other unmanned boats.

Conrad, being a superb pilot, managed to land at only 580 feet from Surveyor 3, and his first word on the moon was "Whoopie!

While the mission was also the first live color TV show on the lunar surface, Bean accidentally directed the camera to the sun, destroying it and ending the broadcast.

This accidental destruction of the camera may have been a blessing, as Bean and Conrad were known for their silly antics. In one case, Bean smuggled a timer into the camera in hopes of taking a picture of himself and Conrad to confuse and confuse the selection of NASA photo reviewers. who would be puzzled about taking the picture.

The Air Force relief crew also played against the Navy-only crew, which included the insertion of bare pin-ups into the crew checklists, which were worn on the wrists of the Navy. Bean and Conrad. The pin-ups included several playmates, including Angela Dorian, Reagan Wilson and Leslie Bianchinia, along with punny legends related to geology. Dick Gordon was not left out since he had found a calendar in the Yankee Clipper control module (gravitating around the moon during the lunar excursion) with the playmate, DeDe Lind.

Another playmate, Cynthia Meyers, was also on the checklist. She was only 17 when the nude picture of her was taken. Although Playboy's official policy is to wait until a boyfriend turns 18 to have the photo published, the image would technically fall into the category of child pornography and make this photo the first case of pornography. unlawful content of this type on the Moon.

The landing on the moon was not a fun and practical joke. In addition to a serious science, Al Bean also paid tribute to astronaut Clifton Curtis "CC" Williams, a friend and the man he replaced after Williams' death in a jet plane crash.

"When we designed our Apollo 12 patch, we placed four stars in the sky above Yankee Clipper," said Bean, noting that one star represented Williams. "About a month before the planned launch of our Apollo 12 mission, we contacted CC's widow, Beth, and asked her if she would let us take the wings of the CC Marine Corps airmen with us and let them … She said that it seemed the right thing. make."

"Scientists tell us that CC's wings will remain there, relatively unchanged, for millions of years," Bean added.

Bean, a passionate painter who incorporated moon dust into his paintings, will later recreate the moment in the 2013 painting, Dedication.

Upon returning to Earth, the crew discovered that the control module parachutes worked very well, but one camera managed to detach and knock out Bean temporarily after hitting it on the front.

The three Apollo 12 astronauts have remained close friends throughout their lives, producing incredible impact. After Conrad succumbed to motorcycle wreck injury in 1999, NASA planted a tree in his honor at Houston's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Not satisfied and still silly, Bean eased the dedication ceremony on the pretext of "channeling" Conrad from beyond the grave, claiming that the commander of Apollo 12 wanted his tree lit with red lights each Christmas, rather than the white lights used on trees. dedicated to every other fallen astronaut. This, of course, referred to Conrad's motto: "When you can not be good, you have to be colorful." NASA has duly honored this request and red lights adorn its tree every year.

Gordon passed away in 2017, after serving as president and co-chair of the Louisiana Heart Fund, chair of the March of Dimes board of directors (president of the mother), honorary chair of muscular dystrophy and Board member of Boy Scouts of America and Boys. & # 39; Club of Greater New Orleans. He was also executive vice president of New Orleanse Saints for a time.

The "rookie" of the team when Apollo 12 took off in 1969, Alan Bean spent more time in space than Conrad or Gordon, far exceeding them when he spent 59 days aboard the first US space station, Skylab. He would later become an artist name.

Leaving NASA to paint, Bean explained that since he had seen things that most humans would never see, it was just that he was trying to turn those images into art. In many of these paintings, the moon is somewhat colored, and the originals of his paintings include the fabric of his spacesuit and the moon dust.

"I'm the only one who can paint the moon," he says jokingly, "because I'm the only one who knows if it's true or not."

Alan Bean died in 2018 at the age of 86. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The adventures of the crew of Apollo 12 were recreated with love in an episode of the 1998 HBO miniseries titled From Earth to the Moon, the episode title being "That's all there is ".

"I realized that every time you undertake a task or a trip, be it in town or on the moon, all that mattered was that you shared the experience with people that you liked, "said Bean's character in the show, described by Dave Foley. . "That's what makes life special. Because in the end, that's all there is. That's really all there is.