Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy - "Snoop Went Some Place"

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It is believed the only remaining intact flown lunar module from the Apollo missions is “Snoopy” of Apollo 10. With astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan at the controls, Snoopy was tested in lunar orbit flying within 50,000 feet of the surface. After separating from the descent stage, the ascent stage of the lunar module was flown back to John Young in the command module, “Charlie Brown”, in lunar orbit.

Snoopy was jettisoned into space with subsequent firing of the ascent stage engine to fuel depletion placing it on a trajectory past the Moon into orbit around the Sun. Immediately after separation Thomas Stafford lost sight of the spacecraft in the Sun and exclaimed, “Snoop went some place.” Eugene Cernan may have briefly caught sight of Snoopy when its ascent engine was fired.

For 50 years it was an enduring mystery as to the exact position of Snoopy. There was an ongoing project to locate the spacecraft. On June 10, 2019, Nick Howes, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, announced that he and his colleagues had located Snoopy, whose location was previously unknown, based on radar astronomy data with 98% certainty. Imagining Snoopy out there orbiting the Sun makes for a compelling image.