[announcer] Say hello to Snoopy.
Downloaded from YTS.MX
Charlie Brown's beagle is the world's favorite dog.
You've seen him as Joe Cool,
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
as a world-famous author, and so much more!
But was Snoopy also a world-famous, top secret astronaut?
[gulp]
[man] People know me here and there as an actor.
What fewer people are aware of is that I'm a self-published NASA historian.
And here is a book.
Apollo 10: 10 Secrets.
Now, it's the 50-year anniversary of Apollo 10.
That was the important dress rehearsal that made possible Apollo 11,
the big moon shot.
Hey, a question has been... eating at me.
There were whispers about it since the splashdown
that have been unshushable all these decades,
"What if there was a fourth, secret crew member?"
When I was back directing the movie Apollo 13,
NASA gave me tremendous access to their entire archive,
with one big exception:
this room.
I already knew that Snoopy was part of a promotional campaign.
In 1968, he was invited to become NASA's safety mascot
for its Manned Flight Awareness program.
But the rest of this stuff?
Right. Top secret?
Heavily redacted.
"Security blanket."
"Blockhead."
"World War I flying ace."
What exactly is being covered up here?
[applause, cheering]
Apollo 10 was almost like a trial run of Apollo 11.
They did everything that the Apollo 11 astronauts would do,
except they didn't land.
We found enough problems on 10 that we had to fix
so that Apollo 11 could land.
[Kerrick] The lunar module got to go down almost to the surface of the moon.
Our objective was for Neil and his crew to follow in our footsteps.
We painted the line in the sky so we wouldn't get lost.
I've spent decades trying to discover the answer to the question,
"What was Snoopy's..." Yes, I said Snoopy.
What was his actual role on Apollo 10?
Not the ostensible role, but the actual role. Ouch!
[man] The crew of Apollo 10
chose the names of two very popular comic strip characters
as code names for their spaceship.
[Cernan] We had to call our spacecraft something.
I'm not sure whether it was myself or Tom or John,
but I yelled out, "Hey, Charlie Brown. This is Snoopy."
Ever since that time, that's what we've gone with.
[Goldblum] The lunar module was named Snoopy.
It was snooping to find the location site for the landing of Apollo 11.
This command module,
as the story goes, ostensibly was nicknamed Charlie Brown
because, still, they were joking around in some jocular, jestful whimsy.
Well, really joking around, or something else?
I really have to show you this footage.
It's from June 1969. It's unbelievable.
[beeps]
Snoopy and the Apollo 10 mission?
Good grief!
Where do I begin?
NASA heard about Snoopy's storied adventures
as a World War I flying ace and recruited him.
[narrator] Future space pilots went through rigorous training exercises.
All in a day's work for this country's future space flyers.
[alarm blaring]
Remember, this is strictly optional.
You're not required to be an astronaut.
Why can't I have a normal dog?
-[beeps] -[laughing]
-[beeps] -[speed increases]
Uh? [whimpers]
[grunting]
-[screams] -[crash]
[laughing]
[announcer] Color coverage of the Apollo 10 launch.
[reporter] The Apollo 10 countdown proceeding on time
for a liftoff at 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
[man] By 10 a.m., Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan were ready
and received an affectionate send-off from an upstart beagle from a comic strip.
I actually got caught up in the excitement on launch day.
Me and my friends were all there.
It was a sight to see.
[man] We have ignition sequence start.
Engines on. Five, four, three, two...
All engines running! We have liftoff!
[Howard] Amazing!
Oh! Awesome!
Now, in this photo...
It's a picture of the LEM, lunar landing module...
and Peppermint Patty and Marcie.
And right here...
Franklin, clipboard in hand.
Franklin!
This is Mission Control.
Flight directors.
Sally?
Sally is a flight director.
These kids are all accounted for.
But where was Snoopy?
Okay. Do you know what this is?
This, of course, is Linus's blanket.
They not only got Snoopy involved,
every one of the Peanuts/Charlie Brown characters were involved.
Oh. Um... [clears throat]
Snoopy opened the door for the rest of us to join NASA.
Engineers were sincerely inspired by my blanket.
They used the material to improve their technology.
[sighs] Technology.
Eureka!
Holy moly!
[man] Take one. Sound three. Apollo astronaut Cernan.
[Lucy] How are you handling the pressures of the mission?
Any mental anguish?
It's a big thing when someone puts a spacecraft in your hands
and puts a lot of faith in you to do a job.
I think you have hypengyophobia.
That's fear of responsibility.
Going to the moon will straighten you out.
Next patient!
[Stafford] Can't forget our little mascot, Charlie Brown.
[Young] Okay, we got Snoopy now.
[Cernan] Good grief, Charlie Brown!
Phew.
Okay, I've studied the films and the photos,
and the answer is: Snoopy did go to space, many times...
as an award.
[Kerrick] The Silver Snoopy Award.
That award is awarded by an astronaut
to an employee that has gone above and beyond.
[man] They are awarded tiny lapel pins, such as I am now wearing.
To me, it is just about the greatest thing in the world to be involved.
[Kerrick] Less than one percent of NASA's workforce gets one.
I was given one in 1998.
The little five-year-old in me
who's been collecting astronaut Snoopys all these years,
this one means so, so much.
[Cernan] Nobody remembers Apollo 10
until you tell 'em our spacecraft were Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
"Oh, I remember!"
They remember Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
Well, even if Snoopy wasn't really on board Apollo 10,
I think it's a lot of fun to think of him someday landing on the moon.
[Goldblum] If I may.
[plays "Fly Me to the Moon"]
[song ends]