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[b]Astronauts' Appearance & Exhibition Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Apollo 10[/b] Just before the first man landed on the moon, Charlie Brown and Snoopy soared through space with NASA's Apollo 10 mission in May 1969. The Charles M. Schulz Museum is celebrating the 40th anniversary of this historic space flight with its newest exhibition, [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum41/HTML/000227.html][i]To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA[/i][/URL], running January 31 through July 20, 2009. Apollo 10 Astronauts & Support Personnel Appear Saturday, January 31, 2009 Two of the three Apollo 10 astronauts, Captain Eugene A. Cernan and Lieutenant General Thomas P. Stafford, plus three support personnel, will be at the Charles M. Schulz Museum on Saturday, January 31 from 1 to 3 p.m. to meet and greet visitors. The Apollo 10 support personnel are Captain Chuck Smiley, helicopter pilot of the recovery team; Wes Chesser, primary recovery swimmer of the recovery team; and Jamye Flowers Coplin, a NASA secretary who was filmed giving Apollo 10 astronauts a special "Snoopy" send off. Museum members will be invited to attend a special evening reception and presentation featuring Apollo 10 astronauts Captain Cernan and General Stafford and the three personnel support members. The [i]To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA[/i] exhibition takes a look at the Apollo 10 and the Peanuts characters' role in that space flight and in NASA's safety campaign. The exhibit will feature a one-third scale model of the Apollo command module from the Johnson Space Center, an Apollo-era flight suit, the actual image of Charlie Brown that was flown aboard Apollo 10, and a special children's area for creative play. As the decade of the 1960s was coming to a close, America, along with the rest of the world, waited with great anticipation to see if NASA could achieve President John F. Kennedy's challenge from 1961--to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The astronauts of Apollo 10 -- Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan -- nicknamed their command and lunar modules "Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy," respectively, and carried sketches of the duo aboard their space craft. Stafford and Cernan piloted "Snoopy" to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface as they scouted the landing area for the Apollo 11 mission, scheduled for July 1969. Attending Apollo 10 Astronauts [b]Captain Eugene A. Cernan[/b] is distinguished as the last man to leave his footprints on the moon in December of 1972. He was the second American to walk in space during the Gemini 9 mission (June 1966); a crew member on Apollo 10, the second flight to the moon (May 1969); and the commander of the last lunar landing, Apollo 17 (1972). In 1976 Cernan retired from the Navy and NASA and became a private aerospace consultant. He continues to be an advocate for space exploration and education. [b]Lieutenant General Thomas P. Stafford[/b]'s careers in the US Air Force and NASA have earned him much recognition for his abilities as a pilot, leader, and scientist. In May 1969, General Stafford commanded the Apollo 10 mission, executing the first rendezvous around the moon; during reentry the spacecraft reached 24,792 mph, earning Stafford a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest speed ever attained by man. He has flown over 127 different types of aircraft and helicopters and four different types of spacecraft, logged over 507 hours in space flight during six missions, and wears the Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut Wings. Attending Apollo 10 Support Personnel Navy Frogman [b]Wesley T. Chesser[/b] was the swim team leader for the recovery team of Apollo missions 6, 10, and 11. Chesser also provided introductory training for the Apollo 12 swim recovery team. [b]Chuck Smiley[/b] was the Navy helicopter pilot for the recovery of Apollo 10. "Chuck could get closer to the water than just about any helicopter pilot," said swim team leader Wes Chesser. He added, "What many didn't realize was that Chuck had to compensate for the wave height as he hovered over the water. I think more than once his rear wheel was clipped by the wave crests. Yet he seemed unfazed." [b]Jamye Flowers Coplin[/b] was assigned as secretary to Flight B Chief, Gordon Cooper, backup commander of Apollo 10. In May 1969 she accompanied the Apollo 10 prime, backup, and support crews to Kennedy Space Center, Florida. While standing at the door of the crew quarters with a large plush Snoopy during the crew walk out on launch day, May 18, 1969, she was given an unexpected opportunity to give Apollo 10 astronauts Stafford, Young, and Cernan a surprise "Snoopy" send-off, which was captured by official Apollo 10 mission NASA video and still photographs.
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