After they were famous: what happened next?

Life-defining moments are all very well, but then what? Chris Wright has made a study of what it means to move on

One day Alan Bean decided it was time for a change of career. History would always remember him as the fourth man to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969; he'd served on Skylab, too. But he wanted to do something else. So he took to his great passion, painting, and has had considerable success for the best part of 40 years. But he's only ever painted one thing: astronauts on the surface of the moon.

Moving on from a defining moment can be challenging - and not just for moonwalking astronauts. Many of us are aware of a moment when we think: well, that's it - everything else is an afterthought now. For some it is the kids leaving home; for others it might be the highest point they reach in a corporate career. For many the pivotal moment of their life is about tragedy or loss. But it is all punctuated by the same urgent question: now what?