NASA's "Snoopy" lunar module was probably found 50 years after being dropped in space – TechCrunch

NASA's voyage to the moon's surface in July 1969 was preceded by numerous preparatory missions, including Apollo 10, which consisted of a fictional mission with everything except the actual landing. Astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Carman flew a lunar module nicknamed "Snoopy" by the agency almost to the moon during Apollo 10, and then fired the module into space once their task was completed.

Snoopy never intended to bring Snoopy back to Earth. It was sent into an orbit around the Sun beyond the Moon after the astronauts had completed their maneuvers and returned to the control module. NASA has not followed its trajectory. Efforts to discover its location began in 2011 and were undertaken by a group of British amateur astronomers led by Nick Howes, the same who now say they are "98% convinced" to have found out where he found himself, according to Sky News. Howes then speculated that if they confirm his location, a person like Elon Musk could pick it up and keep it as a key cultural artefact.

Apollo 10 was the fourth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. It consisted of flying the lunar module within 14 km of the Moon's surface – until the last landing sequence where the module would make its motorized descent. According to the "Peanuts" theme, the command module of the mission was called "Charlie Brown".

Notably, the fuel tanks used in this mission did not provide enough fuel to return from the surface of the Moon – an intentional limitation imposed on the case where astronauts conducting the test would be tempted to queue up and go to sea. be the first to walk on the moon. surface, in front of Neil Armstrong of Apollo 11 and Buzz Aldrin .