WASHINGTON -- NASA has reported that Astronaut Alan Bean has died. 

  • Astronaut Alan Bean dies at 86
  • Bean was 4th man to walk on moon
  • Bean died Saturday, May 26, 2018 in Houston

Bean was the fourth person to walk on the moon and spent over 10 hours on the lunar surface during Apollo 12. 

In total, Bean logged 69 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes in space, including 31 hours and 31 minutes on the moon’s surface, according to NASA

NASA tweeted saying Bean was Spacecraft Commander of Skylab Mission II who retired from NASA in 1981 and devoted his retirement to painting.

“Alan Bean was the most extraordinary person I ever met,” said astronaut Mike Massimino, who flew on two space shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope. “He was a one of a kind combination of technical achievement as an astronaut and artistic achievement as a painter.”

Bean, 86, died on Saturday, May 26, at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. His death followed his suddenly falling ill while on travel in Fort Wayne, Indiana two weeks before.

“Alan was the strongest and kindest man I ever knew. He was the love of my life and I miss him dearly,” said Leslie Bean, Alan Bean’s wife of 40 years. “A native Texan, Alan died peacefully in Houston surrounded by those who loved him.”