The First Paintings of Another World by an artist who was actually there I was the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 12 and the fourth man to set foot on the moon. I explored the beautifully desolate landscape of the Ocean of Storms and later, as commander of Skylab 3 (Skylab Mission II), I spent 59 days in orbit around our fragile, blue-and-white Earth. I had been painting earthbound subjects for many years by the time I returned from Apollo 12 and Skylab 3 missions, but my fellow astronauts convinced me to paint my experiences on the moon. “You can create the very first paintings in all of history of a place other than our own planet,” they said. “Your paintings will forever be the first paintings of the many other worlds humans will visit as the centuries unfold.” Because of this unprecedented opportunity and challenge, I resigned from NASA in 1981 to devote all of my time and energy to painting, celebrating the great exploration that was Apollo. Over the years, my art has evolved into a mixture of painting and sculpture, textured with my lunar tools, sprinkled with bits of our Apollo 12 spacecraft and a touch of moondust from the Ocean of Storms. You can see many of my paintings on this site and read more about the space-age techniques and materials I use in my work.