Snoopy’s unlikely role in Nasa’s 1969 moon landing celebrated in 50th anniversary Omega Speedmaster special edition watch
The anniversary model also marks Nasa’s half-century partnerships with Omega timepieces – used on the Apollo missions – and Snoopy, the astronauts’ call-sign for the module that scouted the Apollo 11 landing site
Before man walked his first steps on the moon in 1969, Snoopy had already been there. This is according to Nasa’s archives, which detail the half-century-long relationship between the space program and the beloved comic book charter's creator Charles M. Schulz.
Schulz had always dreamt of putting Snoopy on the moon, and he brought his vision closer to life with numerous comic strips depicting the cartoon canine on missions that helped build public excitement for the space program during the 1960s.
During the Apollo 10 mission in May 1969, a module was sent to skim the Moon’s surface to scout the Apollo 11 landing site in preparation for that crew’s touchdown later the same year. The module’s mission was to “snoop around” the site. The crew affectionately named it Snoopy, and its command module Charlie Brown, and a bond with the characters was forged.
Other Nasa partners, such as watchmaker Omega, brought more technological help – in their case producing timepieces for the missions. Omega’s Speedmaster was the first watch on the moon and was also credited for aiding the eventual safe return of Apollo 13’s crew after a disastrous oxygen tank explosion caused their 1970 mission to be aborted.
Nasa later created the Silver Snoopy award, which was presented to employees of the agency by astronauts to acknowledge their contribution to flight safety and successful missions, as well as in a special ceremony to Dr Hans Widmer, the then-technical director of Omega.