Apollo 10 was a crewed spaceflight to the Moon, launched in May 1969, intended to test equipment for the planned landing by Apollo 11. The mission was commanded by Edward Baldwin, with Gordo Stevens as Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) pilot and Fred Talmadge as Command and Service Module (CSM) pilot. The CSM was nicknamed Charlie Brown, while the LEM was nicknamed Snoopy, in reference to the PeanutsW cartoons.[1]
History[]
Baldwin and Stevens brought the LEM to within eight nautical miles (15 km) of the lunar surface before aborting the landing stage. This would become controversial after the Soviet Union shocked NASA by beating Apollo 11 to the Moon.
After the Soviet landing, during a press conference, MSC director Wernher von Braun defended the decision to not land Apollo 10 the month before. He said that it was never even considered and that the LEM was too heavy and did not have enough fuel to land. However, Gordo called this "a bunch of bullshit" when asked about it by Newsweek reforter Paul Santoro. Ed confirmed the claim of Santoro that NASA doesn't have guts anymore, since the Apollo 1 fire. This statement later led to Ed temporary loosing his place for Apollo 15.[1]
Baldwin was later called in to a congressional hearing on the matter, but he ultimately defended the decision not to land Snoopy on the Moon as his own.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
In reality, Apollo 10W lasted from May 18 - 26 and the crew was comprised of Thomas StaffordW (commander), Gene CernanW (LEM pilot), and John YoungW (CSM pilot). Like in the show, Apollo 10 was a test run, including the descent of the LEM and the aborted landing at about 8.4 nmi above ground.
Notes[]
Show's vs. original mission patch
- The patch of this mission was almost identical to the patch of the real mission.
- This was the first Apollo mission seen in For All Mankind, however only in flashbacks of Ed Baldwin.
- The mission possibly happened on the same date as in reality, however this is not confirmed, only that it was about a month before the Soviet landing.
See also[]
External links[]
Apollo 10 on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 For All Mankind TV Series - Season 1, Episode 1: "Red Moon"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV Series - Season 1, Episode 2: "He Built the Saturn V"
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