Astronauts' Appearance & Exhibition
Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Apollo 10
Peanuts March 13, 1969 (detail)
To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA
showing at the Charles M. Schulz Museum
January 31 through July 20, 2009
March 14, 1969
December 12, 2008—Santa Rosa, CA.
Just before the first man landed on the moon, Charlie Brown and Snoopy soared through space with NASA’s Apollo 10 mission in May 1969. The Charles M. Schulz Museum is celebrating the 40th anniversary of this historic space flight with its newest exhibition, To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA, running January 31 through July 20, 2009.
Apollo 10 Astronauts & Support Personnel Appear
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Two of the three Apollo 10 astronauts, Captain Eugene A. Cernan and Lieutenant General Thomas P. Stafford, plus three support personnel, will be at the Charles M. Schulz Museum on Saturday, January 31 from 1 to 3 p.m. to meet and greet visitors. The Apollo 10 support personnel are Captain Chuck Smiley, helicopter pilot of the recovery team; Wes Chesser, primary recovery swimmer of the recovery team; and Jamye Flowers Coplin, a NASA secretary who was filmed giving Apollo 10 astronauts a special “Snoopy” send off.
Museum members will be invited to attend a special evening reception and presentation featuring Apollo 10 astronauts Captain Cernan and General Stafford and the three personnel support members.
The To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA exhibition takes a look at the Apollo 10 and the Peanuts characters’ role in that space flight and in NASA’s safety campaign. The exhibit will feature a one-third scale model of the Apollo command module from the Johnson Space Center, an Apollo-era flight suit, the actual image of Charlie Brown that was flown aboard Apollo 10, and a special children’s area for creative play.
As the decade of the 1960s was coming to a close, America, along with the rest of the world, waited with great anticipation to see if NASA could achieve President John F. Kennedy’s challenge from 1961—to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
The astronauts of Apollo 10—Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan—nicknamed their command and lunar modules “Charlie Brown” and “Snoopy,” respectively, and carried sketches of the duo aboard their space craft. Stafford and Cernan piloted “Snoopy” to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface as they scouted the landing area for the Apollo 11 mission, scheduled for July 1969.
Attending Apollo 10 Astronauts
Jamye Flowers (Coplin) holds large plush Snoopy as a send-off on Apollo 10 launch day, May 18, 1969, as Stafford pets his nose. NASA Photograph/courtesy of the Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center
Captain Eugene A. Cernan is distinguished as the last man to leave his footprints on the moon in December of 1972. He was the second American to walk in space during the Gemini 9 mission (June 1966); a crew member on Apollo 10, the second flight to the moon (May 1969); and the commander of the last lunar landing, Apollo 17 (1972). In 1976 Cernan retired from the Navy and NASA and became a private aerospace consultant. He continues to be an advocate for space exploration and education.
Lieutenant General Thomas P. Stafford’s careers in the US Air Force and NASA have earned him much recognition for his abilities as a pilot, leader, and scientist. In May 1969, General Stafford commanded the Apollo 10 mission, executing the first rendezvous around the moon; during reentry the spacecraft reached 24,792 mph, earning Stafford a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest speed ever attained by man. He has flown over 127 different types of aircraft and helicopters and four different types of spacecraft, logged over 507 hours in space flight during six missions, and wears the Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut Wings.
Attending Apollo 10 Support Personnel
Navy Frogman Wesley T. Chesser was the swim team leader for the recovery team of Apollo missions 6, 10, and 11. Chesser also provided introductory training for the Apollo 12 swim recovery team.
Chuck Smiley was the Navy helicopter pilot for the recovery of Apollo 10. “Chuck could get closer to the water than just about any helicopter pilot,” said swim team leader Wes Chesser. He added, “What many didn't realize was that Chuck had to compensate for the wave height as he hovered over the water. I think more than once his rear wheel was clipped by the wave crests. Yet he seemed unfazed.”
Jamye Flowers Coplin was assigned as secretary to Flight B Chief, Gordon Cooper, backup commander of Apollo 10. In May 1969 she accompanied the Apollo 10 prime, backup, and support crews to Kennedy Space Center, Florida. While standing at the door of the crew quarters with a large plush Snoopy during the crew walk out on launch day, May 18, 1969, she was given an unexpected opportunity to give Apollo 10 astronauts Stafford, Young, and Cernan a surprise “Snoopy” send–off, which was captured by official Apollo 10 mission NASA video and still photographs.
Additional Images
March 13, 1969
Snoopy’s History with NASA
1968
- NASA chose Snoopy as their icon who would “emphasize mission success and act as a ‘watchdog’ for flight safety.”
- NASA was allowed to use “Snoopy the Astronaut” as long as Schulz drew Snoopy on all NASA-related material and a copyright notice appeared next to the image.
May 18, 1969
- At 12:45 p.m., Apollo 10 launched from the Kennedy Space Center with three astronauts: Spacecraft Commander Thomas P. Stafford, Lunar Module Pilot Eugene A. Cernan, and Command Module Pilot John W. Young.
- These astronauts chose to name their command module Charlie Brown and their lunar module Snoopy.
- Apollo 10 crew secretary Jamye Flowers (Coplin) held a very large plush Snoopy doll to greet Thomas Stafford as the crew left for the Apollo 10 launch. It was an inside joke the rest of the crew played on Stafford, previously telling him that Flowers had something for him to take to the moon. (There is a photo of this in the exhibition).
- Live telecasts were broadcast in color from inside the craft, where the crew used special paintings of Charlie Brown in space coveralls and Snoopy in his Flying Ace scarf to check the color level on the cameras.
May 21, 1969
- The astronauts entered an elliptical orbit above the moon where they were able to record and report about the moon’s surface.
May 22, 1969
- Stafford and Cernan separated Snoopy (the lunar module) from Charlie Brown (the command module) and flew over the moon’s surface.
- Eight hours later, Snoopy returned safely to Charlie Brown, only after experiencing a turbulence scare. Cernan described the situation: “In about 15 seconds, I saw the lunar horizon go past about eight times in different directions.” Stafford took manual control of the spacecraft and soon Snoopy was under control. The wild gyrations were caused by an incorrectly set switch in the navigation system.
- After Snoopy was reunited with Charlie Brown, Mission Control in Houston showed a cartoon of Snoopy kissing Charlie Brown with a balloon reading, “Smack. You’re right on target, Charlie Brown!”
May 26, 1969
- The Apollo 10 crew returned safely back to Earth after 31 lunar orbits.
- The recovery team, lead by Naval Commander and pilot of helicopter #66 Chuck Smiley and Lieutenant Wes Chesser, recovered the astronauts from the ocean. For the Apollo 10 crew’s eyes only where the words, “Hello ‘der Charlie Brown” painted on the underside of the helicopter.
- The data and images collected by the crew paved the way for the successful moon landing of Apollo 11 two months later on July 20, 1969.
Today
- Charlie Brown, the Apollo 10 command module, is now on display at the Science Museum in London, England.
- Snoopy, the Apollo 10 lunar module, remains in solar orbit. It is the only surviving lunar module sent into space.
- One of the moon’s craters was later named “Snoopy.”
The Silver Snoopy Award
- Snoopy still remains part of the space program to this day—the Silver Snoopy Award is presented to individuals in NASA, other government agencies, and in the industry, for outstanding performances and contributions to the space program.
- The Silver Snoopy Award, dubbed the “astronauts’ personal award,” has been presented since 1968 as part of NASA’s Space Flight Awareness program to non-military personnel for outstanding efforts that contribute to the success of human space flight missions.
- Award winners receive a sterling silver Astronaut Snoopy lapel pin (which has been flown in outer space aboard a Space Shuttle), a certificate, and a letter of appreciation signed by NASA astronauts.
- Fewer than 1% of the workforce receives this recognition annually, making it one of the most prized awards in the industry.
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