The Apollo 10 lunar module, nicknamed Snoopy, is seen during the mission in May 1969. (Reuters)

Astronomers believe they have found the famous lunar module from the Apollo 10 mission five decades after it was released into space by the crew.

The module, measuring just four metres wide, was nicknamed Snoopy and was believed to have been lost forever in 900 million kilometres of space after it was jettisoned.

Snoopy, named after the lovable cartoon dog, was used as a practice run for the Apollo 11 lunar landing, to take place two months after Apollo 10 in July 1969.

Two of the three astronauts transferred into it, to reach an altitude of 50,000ft above the Moon’s surface. They then returned to the command module. After demonstrating the docking manoeuvre, the mission was over and Snoopy was shot off into space.




Nick Howes, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, said he is certain it has been found and all they need is someone to go and retrieve it. Mr Howes said he began the search for the module in 2011 and calculated the odds of finding it were 235 million to one. He and a team of astronomers analysed terabytes of radar data and in 2018 found what they believe is Snoopy.

In this May 22, 1969, the Apollo 10 command module is seen from the lunar module (LM) after separation in lunar orbit. Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan boarded the LM which they had named Snoopy, after the Peanuts comic strip character. (AFP)

In this May 1969 image obtained from NASA, astronaut Tom Stafford, wearing his spacesuit, is being shown a pennant bearing the Peanuts comic book character Snoopy at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (AFP)

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‘We are 98% convinced we have found it. Until someone goes out and gets it, we can’t be 100% sure. Until someone gets really close to it and gets a detailed radar profile, we can’t be sure,” Mr Howes said.

‘We’ve got to wait quite a few years for it to come back but once it does come back the idea is that we are going to get a really detailed picture of it. It would be a really fantastic achievement for science. People say ‘what’s the point?’ From a space archaeology point of view, it’s interesting.

‘It’s the only one that’s up there that has flown that is left. The Apollo programme was the greatest technical achievement in human history. Anyone of a certain age will know exactly what they were doing on July 20 1969. It’s the Kennedy moment. As a piece of history, a moment in history, this is a unique artefact.’