Astronomers just about have found the Apollo 10 lunar module floating in space

It's always a good idea to have a real run before doing something big. For example, you're not going to try out your full interpretative dance karaoke from Radar love without first trying it in front of the mirror, right? Of course not. The same was true for NASA and the Apollo moon landings. The Apollo 10 mission almost everything that the actual lunar landing of Apollo 11 did – except landing on the moon. The lunar lander, named Snoopy after the famous caricature character, was dropped into space after the mission and lost the thought, but a team of astronomers now thinks they have found it.

It is actually the module of ascent of the lunar lander which finally seems to have been found. You see, Apollo 10 was a kind of dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, so they did it and used everything that would be used during the planned lunar landing mission.

The command module, named Charlie Brown, was disarmed with Snoopy, the lunar lander, which descended up to 8 miles from the moon's surface. After that, they had to simulate the launch of the Lunar Module Climb Module (the pressurized crew area above the landing legs) so that it would come off and get to the rendezvous with the module. command, where the two astronauts inside can join the waiting astronaut. for them in the control module.

After that, the Snoopy Lunar Climb Module, now empty, was dropped into a heliocentric orbit (you know, around the sun, just like us). All the other ascents of the Apollo lunar module were deliberately broken in the moon or left burning in the Earth's atmosphere, making the Apollo 10 module the only Apollo lunar lift module still in use, and even the only one, once inhabited, now empty. American spaceship left in space.

So, as you can imagine, Snoopy has a lot of historical value, and finding it would be a big deal, especially if someone found a way to recover it safely.

Snoopy's research, undertaken since 2011, is led by Nick Howes, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, and he quickly points out that they are not 100%. certain they found it:

According to Nick and his team, 98 to 99% of respondents believe that the module will not be close enough to Earth to be fully confirmed before 18 years. Nick suggested that Elon Musk might perhaps send a Dragon capsule to recover. he recognizes that he would not do it for difficult scientific reasons:

Finding Snoopy was incredibly difficult. It's relatively small and in orbit for 42 years. The chances of finding the spacecraft have been estimated at about 235 million against one. And yet, in a way, they think they did it.

Another interesting element about the Apollo 10 mission: although the reason is disputed by various sources, the landing module was sent with a lower fuel quantity than the Apollo 11 lunar lander.

The disputed reason is that NASA did not want captivating astronauts to move away from the moon a few miles away and thought: screw it, let us land!

So, to make sure this does not happen, they have not given enough gas to get up from the moon.

Or else the story goes; Although I like this reason, it seems that there would have been enough fuel, with less security reserve, mainly because the Apollo 10 lunar module was still a little heavier than the lorry. goal targeted by that of Apollo 11.

Although it did not land on the moon, Apollo 10 set great records: the fastest crewed flight (24,790 MPH, or 0.0037% of the speed of light), and the humans the further afield were traveled on Earth, 254 110 km.

I will be updating in 18 years to see if these astronomers were right and I would give a tweet to Elon, or to the robotic body that Elon's brain occupies, to pick him up.