Snoopy and the Apollo 10 Gang Go to Space [View all]

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Photo of the Week
Snoopy and the Apollo 10 Gang Go to Space
October 1, 2012 02:34PM
By Andrew Cannizzaro


Apollo 10 astronauts Eugene Cernan, John Young, and Thomas Strafford holding a pennant adorned with a ready-for-space Snoopy. (Photo from Getty Images)


The producers at BIO.com review hundreds of photos of famous figures each week, from award-winning actors and popular singers, to headliners and scandal makers. While we're digging through these archives, we often come across amazing photos that we're just dying to share. So, without further ado, here's the one image that stands out to us this week:

On October 2nd, 1950, the first Peanuts cartoon strip created by Charles Schulz was published in newspapers. Just nineteen years later, Mr. Schulz's creations would leap from the ink of the Sunday morning funnies into the arms and hearts of the Apollo 10 astronauts.

On May 18th, 1969, the Apollo 10 spacecraft was launched on a lunar orbital mission that set the stage for the Apollo 11 moon landing just two months later. The Lunar Module on Apollo 10 was expected to come within 50,000 feet of the moon for a test run. Since they referred to this as "snooping around," the Lunar Module was code named Snoopy and would report back to the Command Module nicknamed Charlie Brown.

Even today Snoopy and the Gang remain intertwined with NASA. The agency gives out a Silver Snoopy Award to employees who've made considerable contributions toward its success.