Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Hang on, Snoopy, hang on


During the Apollo 10 mission, where the crew descended toward the surface of the Moon but didn't land, after the descent stage was discarded and the ascent stage proved it could dock with the command module again, the ascent stage (still named "Snoopy", even though officially the whole lunar module was "Snoopy") was cast adrift in space.   And it wasn't tracked very well back then.

But it might have been found.

Lunar Module That's Been Floating Through Space for 50 Years May Have Been Found

Though they still aren't sure that they've found Snoopy, they're suggesting that it could be recovered.  Aside from the fact that there are probably a multitude of things that money could better be spent on, I don't know what they'd do with it, because it couldn't survive re-entry.  So would they bring it back to be a museum exhibit in space that could only be visited by a very few privileged space travelers?  I don't have an answer for that.

Here's the whole lunar module in space.  Not sure which mission this is; my guess is Apollo 9.


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