Snoopy Joins NASA Mission to the Moon Via Artemis I

An upcoming NASA mission will bring a stuffed toy version of Snoopy, the adorable beagle from the beloved kids' comic strip "Peanuts," to the atmosphere of the moon aboard the Artemis I spaceship.

In an official statement, NASA said that Astronaut Snoopy, the stuffed toy, will serve as a zero-gravity indicator for the spacecraft. Artemis I, which will carry the capsule of Orion, will have no human crew for its very first mission to test the deep space exploration systems in space.

As the sole crew member of the spacecraft, Snoopy will be fitted with an actual Orion Crew Survival System suit, which will be made of the same materials that the actual astronauts will wear for the future missions of Artemis. Inside the stuffed toy's torso, however, is a sophisticated data collection system that will provide the necessary data for NASA to read the actual conditions aboard the capsule, which will inform them on how to prepare the actual human crew.

Three-Week Space Exploration

Artemis I is expected to circle to the moon by February 2022 as a dry run. According to reports, the Astronaut Snoopy space mission with NASA is part of the preparations for the planned space trip of the first woman and first person of color to the moon in the coming years.

Snoopy's trip to the moon will take an estimated three weeks, alongside four mini-figurines from LEGO. These toys will also be packed with many mementos from Charles M. Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts."

Schulz's relationship with NASA started in the 1960s before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon's surface via Apollo 13 and made history. During the space mission for Apollo 10, a Snoopy stuffed toy was actually on board as a symbol for safety.

In 2018, NASA and "Peanuts," as well as Schulz's estate, signed another agreement to help promote the space agency's other space missions in deep space to entice young kids to take interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Shulz's son, Craig Shulz, said that he's proud that his father's work will continue to have a role in NASA's explorations in the 21st century.

New Season of 'Snoopy's Space Week'

Meanwhile, in line with Snoopy's new NASA mission, GoNoodle and AppleTV+ will be launching the second season of the web series, "Snoopy's Space Week," this November. One episode of the series will tackle the conceptualization and creation of Snoopy's Artemis I spacesuit.

"We have taken a bit of a step further so that Snoopy is able to go to some of these places that we haven't been, like Mars or the moons of Jupiter or visiting an exoplanet," showrunner Mark Evestaff said. "And he does it through his imagination, but it's also based on actual science from NASA."

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