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I just learned about this mission on Saturday, while visiting the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. They have small display with pictures, and the audio

I just learned about this mission on Saturday, while visiting the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. They have small display with pictures, and the audio from the mission. I often think of NASA as exceptionally serious people, but it never seems to stop them from adding a bit of humor and fun to their work. https://schulzmuseum.org/ https://schulzmuseum.org/

trsohmers 7y ago
Well Apollo 10 was the last time NASA let the astronauts name the CM and LM, precisely because they named it Snoopy. I think it is well known that in general the early astronauts had a pretty good sense of humor (along with balls of steel), but ground control, not so much.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  WW2 air crews named and painted their airplanes crazy fun things. There were some complaints about it, but the brass had enough sense to let the crews do what they wanted. It was a way for them to take a bit of the edge off of the terrible strain they were under. (Very high death rates.) My dad was a bit superstitious, all his combat rides were named "Round Trip Ticket". It worked :-) https://imgur.com/zuY1vGA https://imgur.com/zuY1vGA https://imgur.com/QqlYM https://imgur.com/QqlYM
  - tomcam 7y ago
    That is brilliant on so many levels. Kudos to him!
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      Thank you. Above his funeral, another P-51 driver gave him a spectacular sendoff.
  - kijin 7y ago
    What's with the dozen swastikas in the first picture? Number of enemy planes he shot down?
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      They're the claimed enemy airplanes shot down. Some of those kills were shared with other airplanes. There were several gunners on the B-17, so the number there represents all of their work. The painted bombs above it represent the number of combat missions. My father was the navigator, which was up front. His gun pointed out the side, which made for rather difficult deflection shots. He said the favored attack by the Luftwaffe was head on, which made deflection shots as they passed that much harder. The nose of the B-17 is a plexiglass hemisphere, and he could see the Me-109's firing straight at them, and wondered how they could miss. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, no armor.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  I'm pretty sure all of the CMs and LMs were named by the astronauts themselves, but the names probably had to be approved after that. My favourite names are Gumdrop and Spider from Apollo 9.
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  Are you sure? NASA still seems to use Snoopy in an official capacity (e.g. the Silver Snoopy award). Starting in the 80s they even started sending every Silver Snoopy pin up into orbit before it was given to the recipient.
trothamel 7y ago
There was a great relationship between Charles Schulz, and NASA, which showed up in some odd places. There's an award, the Silver Snoopy, that is presented by astronauts to non-management employees that have significantly contributed to human space flight. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/sfa/aac/silver-snoopy-award https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/sfa/aac/silver-snoopy-...
- mbreese 7y ago
  On Apple TV there is a 9 minute documentary about this relationship and specifically Apollo 10. It aims to answer the question: was Snoopy a secret astronaut? It’s pretty cute.

trsohmers 7y ago

Well Apollo 10 was the last time NASA let the astronauts name the CM and LM, precisely because they named it Snoopy. I think it is well known that in general the early astronauts had a pretty good sense of humor (along with balls of steel), but ground control, not so much.

WalterBright 7y ago
WW2 air crews named and painted their airplanes crazy fun things. There were some complaints about it, but the brass had enough sense to let the crews do what they wanted. It was a way for them to take a bit of the edge off of the terrible strain they were under. (Very high death rates.) My dad was a bit superstitious, all his combat rides were named "Round Trip Ticket". It worked :-) https://imgur.com/zuY1vGA https://imgur.com/zuY1vGA https://imgur.com/QqlYM https://imgur.com/QqlYM
- tomcam 7y ago
  That is brilliant on so many levels. Kudos to him!
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    Thank you. Above his funeral, another P-51 driver gave him a spectacular sendoff.
- kijin 7y ago
  What's with the dozen swastikas in the first picture? Number of enemy planes he shot down?
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    They're the claimed enemy airplanes shot down. Some of those kills were shared with other airplanes. There were several gunners on the B-17, so the number there represents all of their work. The painted bombs above it represent the number of combat missions. My father was the navigator, which was up front. His gun pointed out the side, which made for rather difficult deflection shots. He said the favored attack by the Luftwaffe was head on, which made deflection shots as they passed that much harder. The nose of the B-17 is a plexiglass hemisphere, and he could see the Me-109's firing straight at them, and wondered how they could miss. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, no armor.
frosted-flakes 7y ago
I'm pretty sure all of the CMs and LMs were named by the astronauts themselves, but the names probably had to be approved after that. My favourite names are Gumdrop and Spider from Apollo 9.
Rebelgecko 7y ago
Are you sure? NASA still seems to use Snoopy in an official capacity (e.g. the Silver Snoopy award). Starting in the 80s they even started sending every Silver Snoopy pin up into orbit before it was given to the recipient.

trothamel 7y ago

There was a great relationship between Charles Schulz, and NASA, which showed up in some odd places. There's an award, the Silver Snoopy, that is presented by astronauts to non-management employees that have significantly contributed to human space flight. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/sfa/aac/silver-snoopy-award https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/sfa/aac/silver-snoopy-...

mbreese 7y ago
On Apple TV there is a 9 minute documentary about this relationship and specifically Apollo 10. It aims to answer the question: was Snoopy a secret astronaut? It’s pretty cute.