Snoopy has a proud history of floating, and not just down the streets of New York City.
For more than 50 years, Snoopy has contributed to the excitement for NASA human spaceflight missions, helping inspire generations to dream big.
In 1969, Apollo 10 astronauts traveled to the Moon for one final test before the lunar landing attempt. The mission required the lunar module to skim the lunar surface to within 50,000 feet and “snoop around” scouting the Apollo 11 landing site, leading the crew to name the lunar module “Snoopy.” The Apollo command module, in turn, was labeled “Charlie Brown.”
Today, #AstronautSnoopy is orbiting the Moon with NASA Artemis. Inside the Orion spacecraft, he plays a special role as Orion’s zero-gravity indicator, providing a visual when the spacecraft has reached the near weightlessness of microgravity. The character balloon also floated through Manhattan as part of the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.