Picture Of The Day

Astronaut Alan Bean's painting "Tiptoeing on the Ocean of Storms" (acrylic on masonite) from his journey and subsequent moonwalk on the Apollo 12 moon flight:

Bean remembers running next to this crater and feeling like he could run forever without his legs getting tired. The reason he felt "super strong" was because he weighed so little. The Moon has one-sixth the gravity of Earth, making his total body and equipment weight of about 136 kilograms (300 pounds) on Earth only 23 kilograms (50 pounds) on the Moon.

Although carrying weight required little effort, the spacesuits were stiff and hard to move at the knee and hip joints. Astronauts learned to move mostly by ankle motion, which Bean says "feels and looks as if you are dancing on tiptoe."

I can only hope that when I'm floating in space someday (walking on another astrological body seems pretty much out of the question for me at this point and time in history) that I'll have the same sense of wonder that Bean must have felt back then. I can't wait...

(via)