
NASA ‘Snoopy’ lunar module likely found 50 years after being jettisoned - jason_zig
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/10/nasa-snoopy-lunar-module-likely-found-50-years-after-being-jettisoned-into-space/
======
seniorsassycat
> Notably, the fuel tanks used in this mission weren’t provided enough fuel to
> return from the Moon’s surface — an intentional limitation imposed in case
> the astronauts flying the test run were tempted to jump the queue and become
> the first people to walk on the lunar surface

I wish we lived in a universe where NASA didn't have the forsight to short
fuel Apollo 10. Imagine a joyride to the lunar surface.

~~~
chrisshroba
Is it really reasonable to think the astronauts would have disobeyed orders
and landed on the moon? This seems like it would have so many negative
repercussions on the astronauts involved that it seems outside the realm of
possibility to me.

~~~
patejam
I feel like this type of job self selects for people who would totally do
that.

Also, disobeying orders in space has happened before:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_controversy)

~~~
NikolaeVarius
Though that story is apparently in dispute, and there was no strike. I've done
some research and its a surprisingly murky topic.

~~~
wiggler00m
Amazing story if true.

"[T]he crew were alleged to have stopped working. Gibson spent his day on
Skylab's solar console, while Carr and Pogue spent their time in the wardroom
looking out at the window."

------
ahazred8ta
The object is 2006-RH120, which was closer than the moon (0.002 au) in 2007
and will come within 0.025 au in 2028. It is currently on the far side of the
sun.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_RH120](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_RH120)
\--
[https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=3403148;orb=1;old=0;c...](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=3403148;orb=1;old=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad)

~~~
ahazred8ta
The 'Apollo 10 Lunar Ascent Stage' is listed here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Derelict_satellites_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Derelict_satellites_in_heliocentric_orbit)

------
supernova87a
Is it me or is this article so poorly written that the main point of the
article -- where the thing is -- is not even described coherently?

~~~
cyberferret
I was disappointed in the lack of details too (as well as the mis-spelling of
Gene Cernan's name). Is the LM in orbit around the sun? In an extended orbit
around the Earth's orbital plane? Trapped in orbit around another solar body?
That was what I was looking for from the article...

~~~
RawChicken
The lack of knowledge in news articles regarding space topics is astounding.
If you want to learn more about Snoopy, Scott Manley makes a great video about
it!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVYZm9epmU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVYZm9epmU)
The orbit description starts at 3:30 but the rest is worth a watch, full of
interesting footage and data!

------
mirimir
Sky News: [https://news.sky.com/story/snoopy-lunar-module-
from-1969-apo...](https://news.sky.com/story/snoopy-lunar-module-
from-1969-apollo-10-mission-may-have-been-found-11738299)

~~~
protomyth
Sad you got downvoted given the TechCrunch article links to the Sky News
article while providing less information.

[edit: I see the TechCrunch brigade is out in force]

~~~
mirimir
Hey.

What's really funny -- and why I posted the link -- is that TFA doesn't
actually point to the Sky News article. The Sky News link in this sentence ...

> The effort to discover its location began in 2011, undertaken by a group of
> amateur U.K. astronomers led by Nick Howes — the same who now claim they’re
> “98 percent convinced” they’ve discovered where it ended up, according to
> Sky News.

... actually points to [https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-snoopy-lunar-module-
space-1443...](https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-snoopy-lunar-module-
space-1443091) . Some editor wasn't paying attention, I guess. If they still
_have_ editors, anyway.

~~~
protomyth
Wow, when I went to the article it had an actual link to the Sky News article.
I wonder what they have going on, because that is just wrong. It really looks
like they decided they didn't want to point to Sky News and then switched to
Newsweek without changing the actual text.

~~~
mirimir
Huh. That's even stranger.

I mean, why would they switch from a primary source to a secondary source? I
wonder if there's some sort of relationship between TechCrunch and Newsweek.

------
ornel
This is the closest to a primary source I've found:

[https://twitter.com/NickAstronomer/status/113779137705039462...](https://twitter.com/NickAstronomer/status/1137791377050394627)

------
toddsiegel
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
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
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
That is brilliant on so many levels. Kudos to him!

~~~
WalterBright
Thank you. Above his funeral, another P-51 driver gave him a spectacular
sendoff.

------
pryce
An impressive achievement if they did manage to locate it, certainly.

On the other hand, proposing that it merits retrieval is staggeringly vain-
only the tiniest fraction of human enterprise has ever operated outside our
planetary system (the Earth and our moon). Consider the mind-blowing
opportunity cost of any mission sent to 'retrieve Snoopy', and take a moment
to think of just some of the incredible projects one could do instead.

~~~
cesarb
> Consider the mind-blowing opportunity cost of any mission sent to 'retrieve
> Snoopy', and take a moment to think of just some of the incredible projects
> one could do instead.

For an opposite point of view, think of all the technological advances that
would be necessary for a safe "retrieve Snoopy" mission. Even if the mission
itself is pointless, all the developments leading to it could be useful. That
is, what matters might be the journey, not the destination.

~~~
iscrewyou
I was thinking the same thing. The technology and science that could come out
of a mission like that would be great! We’d be the First Nation to retrieve
something far away from earth that belonged to us. A stepping stone for future
mishaps on other planets.

~~~
fuzz4lyfe
"We choose to go (back) to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this
decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they
are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our
energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to
accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and
the others, too."

~~~
pryce
Millions of people have looked to the moon for tens of thousands of years, and
wondered if someday, a human being might walk on it.

A truly transcendent category of goal, even if a large part of the underlying
motive was pretty obviously demonstrating American superiority over the
Communist 'other'.

I don't really put retrieving the 'Snoopy' module in this same category.

~~~
saagarjha
I think you may have missed the joke.

~~~
pryce
I did, thanks.

EDIT: for anyone interested in the history of the Apollo 10 mission, its
commander (and only crew-member remaining living) Thomas Stafford also went to
Moscow to serve as a pallbearer in the state funeral given to the Soyuz 11
crew after the tragedy, the only human beings known to have died in space.

------
melling
The BBC has a podcast about the moon landing:

[https://www.bbc.com/news/science-
environment-48232627](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48232627)

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz4dj](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz4dj)

Apple podcast url: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-minutes-to-the-
moon...](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-minutes-to-the-
moon/id1459657136)

~~~
rjmunro
It's one of the best podcasts I have ever listened to.

RSS feed:
[https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xttx2.rss](https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xttx2.rss)

Program page (with link to RSS etc.):
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads)

------
evanweaver
So, where is it, and how was it found? The article and even the source it
links are extremely vague.

~~~
protomyth
It is apparently in an orbit that "won't make a close pass to our planet until
2037".

[https://www.iflscience.com/space/apollo-10-lunar-module-
snoo...](https://www.iflscience.com/space/apollo-10-lunar-module-snoopy-may-
have-been-found/amp.html)

------
stcredzero
This sounds bad, but it's a serious question: Was there any poop aboard
Snoopy? It sounds silly, but it's at least an issue of comfort and dignity
when people first enter the historic craft after recovery.

~~~
waiseristy
It'd be completely frozen through. Anyone who has a dog in a cold climate
knows frozen poo is infinitely easier to deal with

~~~
erobbins
and vacuum desiccated. Freeze dried poo.

------
salutonmundo
I feel like it's kind of ironic that a probe named "snoopy" was hard to find.

~~~
warrenm
It wasn't a probe - it was part of Apollo 10

