©Mark Ollig
May 18, 1969, CBS News correspondent Walter Cronkite
was broadcasting from the Kennedy Space Center.
Cronkite was there to report on the Apollo 10
mission to the moon.
It was Cronkite’s enthusiastic and informative
commentary which kept this youngster’s eyes focused on my parents’ living room
television during the Apollo space program.
This mission was a dress rehearsal; a practice run,
and final testing of all the systems, maneuvers, and procedures to be used for
ensuring Apollo 11 a successful July moon landing.
The Apollo 10 lunar module (LM) spacecraft was not
to land on the moon; however, it did get very close to its surface.
Since the LM was going to be “snooping around” the
moon’s surface, it was named “Snoopy.”
Of course, it just made sense to name the command
module, the spacecraft all three Apollo 10 astronauts rode to and from the moon
in, “Charlie Brown.”
May 22, 1969, Apollo 10 achieved an orbit around the
moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford left the command module and
climbed into the crew compartment of the ascent stage (the upper portion) of
the two-stage lunar module.
Once inside the LM, they undocked from the command
module.
Snoopy was now floating in moon orbit as it slowly
began its descent toward the grayish lunar surface.
The command module, Charlie Brown, was being piloted
by astronaut John Young, who would continue to orbit the moon.
The astronauts in the LM tested the guidance
computer, ignited the reaction control system’s thruster quad engines, and
performed tests on the lower-stage descent propulsion system.
They confirmed the lunar landing radar was operating
correctly, along with verifying reliable radio communications with the moon
orbiting Charlie Brown, and Mission Control in Houston, TX.
The astronauts aboard Snoopy also completed a video
survey of the Sea of Tranquility, the designated landing site for Apollo 11.
As Snoopy flew over the Sea of Tranquility, the
descent stage (bottom platform lander section of the LM) successfully fired its
engine, slowing their descent.
The closest Snoopy would come to the moon’s surface
would be 9.5 miles.
After achieving their moon landing mission
objectives, the two astronauts jettisoned the descent stage of the LM, which
slowly fell toward and crashed on the moon.
So, a part of Snoopy did make it to the lunar
surface.
Stafford and Cernan ignited Snoopy’s upper ascent
stage rocket engine to gain altitude, and position themselves into a rendezvous
orbit with the command module.
After docking with and boarding the command module,
the astronauts jettisoned the abandoned lunar module ascent stage, Snoopy, into
space.
Once the ascent stage had drifted off to a safe
distance from the command module, NASA flight controllers in Houston
transmitted the command to remotely ignite Snoopy’s ascent rocket engine to
drain the remaining fuel left in its tanks.
Snoopy’s ascent stage began traveling away from the
moon.
May 26, 1969, the Apollo 10 astronauts returned to
Earth.
So, where is Snoopy today?
For the last 50 years, Snoopy’s lunar module ascent
stage; which includes its crew compartment, has been in a heliocentric orbit
(traveling around the sun).
Snoopy is the only surviving Apollo lunar module
ascent stage which went to the moon and is still voyaging through space.
Over the years, I often wondered if the two
astronauts aboard Snoopy were ever tempted to land on the moon so they could
lay claim to fame as being the first to do so.
Mission preparations did not include for an actual
landing or lift-off from the moon’s surface.
There wasn’t enough fuel remaining in the propellant
tanks of the descent stage to make a controlled landing, or enough in the
ascent stage to take off and reach a high enough lunar orbit to rendezvous with
the command module.
If they did manage to land Snoopy safely on the
moon, the two astronauts would have been marooned there.
The orbiting command module could not land on the
moon to make a rescue, so John Young would have been the only astronaut
returning to Earth from Apollo 10.
Of course, Snoopy did not deviate from its mission,
and the astronauts carried out and successfully completed the practice moon
landing according to the flight plan.
Speaking of Snoopy, this week some exciting news was
made public by astronomer Nick Howes of the Royal Astronomical Society in the
United Kingdom.
Howes said he is 98 percent certain he found Snoopy.
Eight years ago, Howes and others began a project to
find the still space-traveling Apollo 10 lunar module ascent stage.
“Until we get close-up radar data . . . then, nobody
will know for sure . . . but it’s promising,” he wrote on his Twitter account,
@NickAstronomer.
He mentioned, when Snoopy gets closer to Earth
during its orbit of the sun, a detailed photo of it could be taken.
It wouldn’t surprise me if someday an attempt is
made to retrieve Snoopy and bring it back to Earth.
The late astronaut Eugene Cernan, who was the lunar
module pilot of Snoopy, reportedly told Howes, “Son, if you find that and bring
it down, imagine the queues [lines] at the Smithsonian.”
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| The Apollo 10 lunar module ascent stage -- Snoopy -- (credit NASA) |
