Charlie Brown and Snoopy head for the dress rehearsal

Apollo 10 was tasked with rehearsing the entire Moon-landing procedure — except the landing itself. NASA officially called the mission a “dress rehearsal” for Apollo 11, which was to follow two months later.

The ship lifted off on 18 May 1969 at 16:49 UTC from Pad 39B — the only Apollo flight to launch from there and the only one controlled from Firing Room 3. The launch was shaken by so-called pogo oscillations, a vibration the crew felt again the next day during the burn toward the Moon. It was the first Apollo mission to carry a colour television camera: Mission Control and viewers on Earth watched in colour as pilot Young docked the command module with the lunar module.

The crew chose names from the Peanuts comic strip for the modules — the command module “Charlie Brown” and the lunar module “Snoopy”, which was to “snoop” around the site of the future landing. The choice echoed the tradition of silver “Snoopy” pins awarded to NASA staff for outstanding work. Cartoonist Charles Schulz drew accompanying artwork for NASA.

FROM THE FLIGHT TRANSCRIPT“Snoopy” and “Charlie Brown” — a tribute to the thousands of people who got the crew to the Moon.— podle slov velitele Toma Stafforda

Start Saturnu V s Apollem 10 z rampy 39B, 18. května 1969 (NASA).

◉ REÁLNÉ FOTOStart Saturnu V s Apollem 10 z rampy 39B.

Posádka Apolla 10 (Cernan, Stafford, Young) na pozadí makety měsíčního povrchu (NASA).

◉ REÁLNÉ FOTOPosádka Cernan, Stafford a Young.

KEY CHAPTER DATA

Čas startu16:49 UTC

NosičSaturn V (AS-505)

Volací znakyCharlie Brown / Snoopy

sources: NASA Apollo 10 Mission Report · Apollo Flight Journal — Apollo 10 · NASA Image and Video Library — full list on Apollo 10

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