Sue Ragsdale Bean
The latest issue of National Geographic magazine features a big story on NASA preparing to send humans to the Moon in the next decade to build a lunar station from materials readily available on the surface. The reason NASA believes it is possible to build with those materials is because they have been testing it for decades. Fifty years ago, we called them moon rocks, some of which were brought back to Earth by Texas Ex Alan Bean on the Apollo 12 mission. What we didn’t know, until now, is that part of the credit for Alan’s inclusion on the American astronaut team lies firmly with his wife, Sue.
In the early days of NASA, getting chosen to be an astronaut was not solely based on flight skills. There were many great military pilots, but the job required a lot more than flying. One of those things, those intangibles, was a strength of character. According to daughter Amy Bean, NASA picked her father because of his secret weapon: a wife who built the All-American family that could represent our country during the most important event in the history of mankind. The stakes were very high, and they needed people up to the task. As I meet her for the first time, I can immediately see that spark that made Sue Ragsdale Bean perfect for the job.
Sue started gymnastics at eleven, training at the Dallas Athletic Club through high school. She remembers gym meets in Monterrey Mexico, and admits the sport was much different in the post war years of the 1940’s, with fewer events for women and much less accessibility. “The University of Illinois had the best women’s team, but my father said I could only go to school in Texas.”
Once in Austin Sue was recruited to join the UT gymnastics team as its only female member because Coach Crenshaw could get more points in a meet with her competing. The team included Alan Bean, who two decades later would become the first man to flip in space aboard American’s 1st spacestation, Skylab.
I ask about cheer tryouts and Sue recalls an open session at Gregory Gym in front of a bunch of student judges. Details are a bit vague these days because, frankly, at age 91 there are too many to recall. Her tumbling skills earned her a spot on the 1953-54 squad along with one other female, Pud Payne. This is before partner stunts, so the squad of eight built pyramids, led the crowd in special cheers like the Whisper Yell, and tumbled on the field after touchdowns. I found a flipping Sue photo in the Cactus Yearbook. “Those were very exciting days,” Sue smiles.
Sue graduated in 1955 with an Elementary Education degree, married Alan, and the couple moved to Pensacola, FL, for Navy flight training school, where their son Clay was born. After completing his initial squadron tour of duty at Attack Squadron 44 (VA-44), Alan faced two choices: to fly with the Navy’s Blue Angels flight acrobatics team or attend the U.S. Navy’s Test Pilot School (USNTPS) Patuxnet River, MD. The family spent 5 years in Patuxent River where Alan flew the Navy’s newest aircraft to its limits before sending them out to the fleet. At USNTPS, Alan met and flew with many of the men who later became astronauts, including his fellow Apollo 12 crew members, Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon. In 1963, Alan was selected as part of NASA’s 3rd Group of Astronauts, where his UT aeronautical engineering skills would set him apart. “There was nothing he couldn’t fix,” Sue says with a smile. They were happy to move back to Texas. Sue was teaching and raising two kids and Alan was working long hours. “We wouldn’t see him for days.”
After the Apollo 1 launchpad fire killed three astronauts, the reality of the danger of their mission became clear. Alan was chosen for the backup crew of Apollo 9, and helped with the design of the lunar landing craft used in later missions. Astronauts weren’t just pilots; they were involved daily in engineering and problem-solving.
Alan served as the Lunar Module Pilot aboard the Apollo 12 mission, which followed the first moon landing by four months. “The original plan was if 11 didn’t make the landing, then 12 would. And if 12 didn’t make it, then 13….” Such was the threat of the unknown in those days. And just like in the movies, Sue and the other wives and children were left to wait, watch, and hope it all goes well. “It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.” Alan was the fourth person to walk on the moon.
“In 1970, we took a six-week tour of the world, and met with all the leaders, and delivered their country’s flags that had been carried to the moon on Apollo 11” Sue recalls. “Alan took several Texas flags with him, including a UT flag, which is hanging in the engineering building.” He was named distinguished alumnus that same year.
In 1973, Alan commanded the second mission to Skylab, spending 59 days in space, a record at the time. He also served on the backup crew for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, which ended the Apollo program in 1975. “We spent a summer in Russia at Star City when the US and Soviet crews worked together.” Alan learned to speak Russian, and Sue picked up some phrases as well, which came in handy today because the washing machine tech who came by her house was Russian and Sue remembered how to say Thank You, “Spasibo”!
Sue was an elementary school teacher for three decades. Alan retired from NASA in 1981 and pursued his second career as an artist, painting scenes from the moon (AlanBean.com). He had many art shows over the years at various galleries and even the Smithsonian. Alan passed in 2018. Sue lives near daughter Amy in Boerne and enjoys her great grandchildren and many great memories of being somewhat famous during the most important project in American history. And no, she does not have a moon rock.
