Entertainment

Snoopy Heads Back to Space

snoopy-nasa-50th-apollo-10

Before there was a moon walk, there was a lunar Snoop. Fifty years later and Snoopy and NASA are teaming up for Apollo 10’s anniversary activities, including the launch of an Apple-exclusive documentary.

 

In May 1969, NASA launched the Apollo 10 mission and sent the Peanuts into space to skim the moon’s surface and ‘snoop around’ scouting a site for the upcoming Apollo 11 moon-landing. The crew named the lunar module “Snoopy.” The Apollo command module was labeled “Charlie Brown.”

 

Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10

Director Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor), Imagine Documentaries, and Peanuts partner on Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10. Starring Ron Howard as himself and Jeff Goldblum as a self-published NASA historian, Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10 takes a light-hearted look at NASA and Charles Schulz’s Peanuts characters. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 10 mission, a documentary crew tries to solve the greatest mystery of all: was Snoopy a world famous, top-secret astronaut?

The film is produced by Imagine Documentaries, DHX Media, and Tremolo Productions. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Justin Wilkes and Marc Gilbar executive produced for Imagine. Aaron Bergeron served as writer. Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10 will be available in May on the Apple TV app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

 

Other Activities

 

Space Center Houston and Johnson Space Center

On April 25, Charles Schulz’ widow, Jeannie Schulz, attended all the festivities unfolding, including:

  • Artist Kenny Scharf, a member of the elite Peanuts Global Artist Collective, paying tribute with an intergalactic image of Schulz’ characters wrapped around an 18-by-15 foot ISS Module.
  • Commander Gen. Tom Stafford, at 88 the last remaining member of the Apollo 10 team, revisits the expedition in a conversation with William T. Harris, Space Center Houston President and CEO.
  • Astronaut Snoopy, donning his official new NASA uniform, mingling with aerospace colleagues and saluting astronauts on the ISS during a visit to Mission Control.

 

Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa, CA

The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif., will host a mini-installation, featuring:

  • A rare NASA posters with Snoopy as the safety mascot
  • Photos of the Snoopy/Charlie Brown banners carried by the Apollo 10 astronauts and used to calibrate the camera settings for the first live color telecasts from space
  • Snapshots of the Snoopy plush and Peanuts figurines that greeted or accompanied the Apollo 10 crew on their mission
  • Memorabilia including vintage toys, Schulz’s personal Silver Snoopy Award, and the comic strip in which Snoopy celebrates beating the Russians (and the Cat Next Door) to the moon

 

London Space Museum

The museum will feature the Charlie Brown command module, on indefinite loan from the Smithsonian, from May 25–26. Family festivals will feature appearances by the Astronaut Snoopy himself.

 

U.S. Elementary Schools

Throughout 2019, grade schoolers across the country are using everyday items to

  • Design and build a lunar rover
  • Engineer a parachute that can safely land a spacecraft (or, in this case, a hard-boiled egg)
  • Research life on Mars and write their own imaginative story about Snoopy’s journey to the Red Planet

 

Peanuts-inspired and standards-aligned materials are sanctioned by the educational experts at NASA. Kids can also nominate a classmate for a “mock” Silver Snoopy Award.

 

From June through year’s end, NASA and Peanuts fans can keep their eyes on the stars as additional space-related events and activations will continue to roll out.

Starting as early as 1959, NASA advocate Charles Schulz began incorporating space-exploration themes into his various strips. But the relationship between the artist and the space agency went much farther than that. During the Apollo missions of the 1960s, Schulz gave NASA permission to use Snoopy on its safety materials. In 1968, NASA introduced the Silver Snoopy award—a sterling silver lapel pin presented personally by NASA astronauts to the employee recipient at a special workplace ceremony. The partnership reached new heights in 1969, when NASA sent Peanuts into space. In July 2018, NASA and Peanuts Worldwide looked to the future with the signing of a multi-year, prestigious Space Act Agreement, featuring fresh entertainment content plus STEM-based educational materials for the next generation.