Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy Was Placed in Solar Orbit May 23, 1969

Summary: Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy was placed in solar orbit May 23, 1969, about two and one-half hours after docking with Command Module Charlie Brown.

With its descent stage already jettisoned, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s ascent stage approaches Command Module Charlie Brown, with lunar eastern limb (about 120 degrees east longitude) in background; red/blue diagonal line is the command module’s window; photograph by Command Module Pilot (CMP) John Young, Thursday, May 22, 1969; NASA image AS10-34-5112: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy was placed in solar orbit May 23, 1969, approximately two and one-half hours after its docking with Command Module Charlie Brown.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 10 Press Kit, released May 7, 1969, described the Apollo human spaceflight program’s lunar module as “a two-stage vehicle designed for space operations near and on the Moon” (page 42). The module stood with a height of 22 feet 11 inches and a width of 31 feet. The module’s ascent stage measured 12 feet 4 inches in height and 14 feet 1 inch in diameter. The descent stage’s dimensions were a height of 10 feet 7 inches and a diameter of one inch. The lunar module was built by NASA contractor Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in Bethpage, New York.

The lunar module’s spaceflight was a one-way trip. Neither of the module’s two stages was designed for a return to Earth. The Press Kit stated: “The LM is incapable of reentering the atmosphere.”

Apollo 10 was commanded by Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930), who was joined by John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) as Command Module Pilot (CMP) and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), respectively.

The mission’s three astronauts assigned the call sign of Snoopy to the lunar module. They selected Charlie Brown as the command module’s identifier.

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as a lunar-orbital mission. Apollo 10 was designed as a dress rehearsal, absent a lunar landing, for Apollo 11, slated for launch in mid-July.

The Apollo 10 mission objectives required undocking of Apollo Lunar Module LM-4 from the Apollo Command and Service Module CSM-106 approximately 22 hours after the spacecraft’s insertion into lunar orbit. The 356.1-second, orbital-insertion maneuver began Wednesday, May 21, at 20:44:54 GMT/UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT). The firing of the service module’s propulsion engine cut off at 20:50:50 GMT/UTC (3:50 p.m. EST, 4:50 p.m. EDT).

The lunar module undocked from the command module Thursday, May 22, at 19:00:57 GMT/UTC (2 p.m. EST, 3 p.m. EDT). The Ground Elapsed Time (GET) was 98 hours 11 minutes 57 seconds (098:11:57) after Range Zero, the integral second before liftoff.

At 23:34:16 GMT/UTC (6:34 p.m. EST, 7:34 p.m. EDT; 102:45:16.9 GET), the ascent stage separated from the descent stage. The separation occurred at an altitude of 31.4 nautical miles above the lunar surface, according to freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff’s NASA-published Apollo by the Numbers (2000: page 76).

The ascent propulsion system (APS) began a 15.55-second firing at 23:44:02 GMT/UTC (6:44:02 p.m. EST, 7:44:02 p.m. EDT; 102:55:02.13 GET) to place the module’s ascent stage into an orbit with pericynthion, or nearest point to the lunar surface, at 46.5 nautical miles and apocynthion, or farthest point from the lunar surface, at 11.0 nautical miles. The ascent stage’s orbital insertion firing cut off at 23:44:17 GMT/UTC (6:44:17 p.m. EST, 7:44:17 p.m. EDT; 102:55:17.68 GET).

Lunar module ascent stage Snoopy docked with Command Module Charlie Brown on Friday, May 23, at 03:11:02 GMT/UTC (Thursday, May 22, at 10:11 p.m. EST, 11:11 p.m. EDT; 106:22:02 GET). Docking occurred at an altitude of 54.7 nautical miles, according to Orloff’s Apollo by the Numbers (page 77).

Closeout activities for Lunar Module Snoopy began Friday, May 23, at 03:31 GMT/UTC (Thursday, May 22, at 10:31 p.m. EST, 11:31 p.m. EDT; 107:20 GET). NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report, released August 1969, noted the “restowage of lunar module equipment for final jettison” and stowage of “debris, such as used food containers and other disposable items, that had collected in the command module over the 4-day period” inside Lunar Module Snoopy (9.9.8: page 9-19).

The ascent stage’s jettison occurred Friday, May 23, at 05:13:36 GMT/UTC (12:13 a.m. EST, 1:13 a.m. EDT; 108:24:36 GET). The ascent propulsion system’s (APS) firing to propellant depletion, which aimed to place LM Snoopy into a solar orbit, began at 05:41:05 GMT/UTC (12:41 a.m. EST, 1:41 a.m. EDT; 108:52:05.5 GET). The depletion burn was completed 249.0 seconds later, at 05:45:14 GMT/UTC (12:45 a.m. EST, 1:45 a.m. EDT; 108:56:14.5 GET).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1, released May 26, 1969, noted, after the ascent stage’s jettison, that: “The crew visually acquired the LM descent stage on several occasions” (page 5).

The Mission Report described the crew’s last view of Lunar Module Snoopy. “Sequence films were made of separation, but after approximately 13 frames the lunar module disappeared into the sunlight and was only seen momentarily during the depletion firing” (9.9.8: page 9-19).

The Post Launch Mission Operation Report stated that Snoopy was tracked via the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) for “about 12 hours” after separation from Charlie Brown. “LM/MSFN communications were maintained until LM ascent stage battery depletion at about 120 hours GET.”

The takeaway for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s placement in solar orbit May 23, 1969, is that the Apollo 10 spacecraft’s ascent stage may still be circling the sun while the descent stage’s lunar orbit likely ended in a lunar surface impact.

Lunar Module 4, known in spaceflight as Snoopy, is being moved into position, Monday, Jan. 13, 1969, for mating with the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) 13 in the John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB); NASA ID S69-17807: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

With its descent stage already jettisoned, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s ascent stage approaches Command Module Charlie Brown, with lunar eastern limb (about 120 degrees east longitude) in background; red/blue diagonal line is the command module’s window; photograph by Command Module Pilot (CMP) John Young, Thursday, May 22, 1969; NASA image AS10-34-5112: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as10-34-5112

Lunar Module 4, known in spaceflight as Snoopy, is being moved into position, Monday, Jan. 13, 1969, for mating with the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) 13 in the John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB); NASA ID S69-17807: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-17807

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