— Snoopy is back.
The “world-famous astronaut” flew aboard NASA’s Artemis I Orion spacecraft in December, but Snoopy, or a plush version of the cartoon beagle dog, was ready to be removed from the airship. was last week.・Moon Capsule. A NASA photo of him taken on January 5 shows the doll being carefully handled before being returned to Carrie’s case.
The image is the first time the doll has been seen in close-up since it launched on November 16, 2022 on NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s Artemis I mission. Snoopy has been documented as having orbited the Moon more than 1.4 million miles (2.3 million km), and Orion’s crew, seen from camera, has a string (also known as a tether) at the bottom of her cabin. Snoopy floating on the edge of the pier was only seen from afar. Mounted on the back wall.
The custom-made puppets serve as the mission’s “zero-gravity indicator,” a tradition borrowed from the Russian space program that uses toys to signal when a spacecraft enters the microgravity environment of space. bottom.
New photos show Snoopy isn’t badly dressed for his trip. It is a miniature version and is made from the same materials used to manufacture the actual garments. It was also tested on the Artemis I worn by .
After landing off the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico on December 11, Snoopy and Commander Campos remained aboard the Orion as they were transported by truck from Naval Base San Diego, California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I was. The spacecraft delivered her to NASA’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility on December 30th.
Engineers have now removed some of the Orion’s external back shell panels and opened the hatch as the capsule undergoes post-flight surveys and analyses.
The Artemis I mission was primarily flown as a test of the spacecraft’s heat shield, proving its ability to safely return from the Moon and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. The flight also confirmed that Orion’s systems are ready to support astronauts in flight as planned for the Artemis II mission, which is targeted for launch in late 2024 or 2025.
Although this was Snoopy’s first flight to the moon in zero gravity, his history with NASA dates back to the Apollo program, when illustrator Charles Schultz agreed on a character to represent NASA’s safety culture and mission success. increase. The Apollo 10 lunar module was named “Snoopy” (commanding his module as “Charlie Brown”) and “Silver His Snoopy” was used by NASA astronauts to bring employees and contractors home safely. It is one of the highest honors he can award for his support.
In 2018, NASA and Peanuts Worldwide expanded the use of Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang as new mascots for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and space agency deep space missions.
