Has the Apollo 10 lunar module finally been found?

Daily Mail ^ | 01:32 EDT, 27 April 2019 | By JAMES GORDON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

In 1969, the Apollo 10 crew ejected the lunar module, named Snoopy, from the command module into orbit, never to be seen again – or so they thought
Astronomer Nick Howes, along with flight controllers, space dynamics experts and astronauts from the Apollo program, have spent years looking for it
The team believe they may have found the four-meter wide vehicle
Now all they need is someone with the expertise to go and retrieve it
The Apollo 10 mission was a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 moon landing, which took place two months later in July 1969

[precisionshootist]

" What's interesting is the rapidity with which NASA was able to move toward its goal back then, 50 years ago. "

It was the pinnacle of American Greatness and it's been down hill ever since.

The truth is the NASA that landed Americans on the moon does not exist anymore and likely never will again.

Visit the Houston space center if you have never been.

[precisionshootist]

"It is. But most of the technology was already there, or close to being there, within the existing aerospace industry. All that it took was the political will and some brute force engineering to make up for those technologies that were still immature — like computers and solid state electronics."

I don't think this is accurate in any way. We were nowhere even close to the technology and knowledge required. We were barely beyond chinese bottle rockets when this task was presented. Research what it took just do design the monster F1 engine that lifted the Saturn V into orbit. The Apollo project was and still is an unimaginable feat of American achievement.

[Tallguy]

“We were barely beyond chinese bottle rockets when this task was presented.” Who is way off now?

The F1 Rocket was derivative of the Goddard’s & German work. Of course a specific product wasn’t available but it’s antecedents were clearly there.

Electronics were largely there thanks to WW2, but not solid state electronics. That was in it’s infancy. But even there they had something crude but workable by the fruition of the Apollo program in 1967.

[Ditto]

I was at the Cape back then. I got to see Apollo 10 on the launch pad. It was the impressive!

[tet68]

“The approximate distance it travels in its orbit is 940 million kilometers.”.

Since it’s orbiting the moon, which orbiting the earth
which is orbiting the Sun, considering various retrograde
movements, it’s probably longer than that.

I shot a lander into the air
it went into moon orbit
I know not where.
See! There it is!
Opps, it moved.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

... and the sun orbits the center of the Milky Way at 220 km/sec and Milky Way orbits the center of mass of the local group and the local group ...

All the references that I could find claim that it is in a heliocentric and not a selenocentric orbit. Once in orbit around the moon you have most of the energy you need to escape from earth’s gravity so a heliocentric orbit is not a big deal. It would be a bitch to locate it in orbit around the moon, and it seems most likely to me that an object orbiting 50,000 ft above the moon would be quickly (on a scale of decades) perturbed into a collision with the moon.

[knarf]

Thanx for the reminder.

I HAD GHOSTERY and forgot about it and wondered ....

Somehow, it left my machine.

Thanx again for the reminder.

[outofsalt]

I believe the Apollo 10 crew holds the record for the furthest that humans have been from earth.
Snoopy did a, “burn to exhaust” test of its engine to see how much fuel it could waste. It’s out there somewhere.

[tet68]

an object orbiting 50,000 ft above the moon

I remember reading a science fiction story about
explorers on Mars or maybe the moon, who discover
holes and troughs in the surface and finally come
to the conclusion that it was a very dense moon
circling the body at a very high rate of speed.

[Political Junkie Too]

Google says it is in a heliocentric orbit.

Also, I was at a lunch with General Stafford yesterday, and he spoke of them pointing it at the sun and launching it into orbit around it.

-PJ

[Political Junkie Too]

Stafford said it orbits the sun every four years.

-PJ

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[NCC-1701]

Sorry, that record belongs to Apollo 13. Apollo 10 does, however, hold the record for the fastest humans have ever traveled.

[Paulie]

“What’s interesting is the rapidity with which NASA was able to move toward its goal back then, 50 years ago.”

Indeed.

From Project Mercury to Gemini to Apollo, that was an absolutely fascinating part of our history. Despite the societal changes and Vietnam war, landing men on the moon and walking in space for the first time (essentially doing the impossible) was a great source of national pride.

It is extremely encouraging to see what man can do when he wants to, but at the same time very sad how soft in the belly the USA has become.

[Paulie]

“What they were able to do with it by Apollo 13 was flat-out incredible.”

Very true.

If you’re interested and have the time, look up “13 things that saved Apollo 13”. I would list them for you here but I cannot remember off hand very many.

[Paulie]

“I was at the Cape back then. I got to see Apollo 10 on the launch pad. It was the impressive!”

Too bad (or maybe a good thing) you cannot see my face, because it is GREEN with ENVY -

I would give anything to see a live launch of the Saturn V.

[SunkenCiv]

:^) They did everything Apollo with that thing, apart from landing. :^)

[outofsalt]

I should have searched before posting from my feeble memory. Apollo 13 is correct.

[Political Junkie Too]

The oxygen tank that exploded on Apollo 13 was originally installed on Apollo 10. During maintenance it was dropped and Commander Stafford wouldn't allow it to be reinstalled. It was shelved and replaced with a new tank.

When Apollo 13 was being manufacturerd, they used that dropped tank off the shelf. It became the #2 oxygen tank that exploded.

-PJ

[Political Junkie Too]

If it were Apollo 10 that exploded, we might never have continued on to the moon. Most likely, it wouldn't have been Neil Armstrong to be the first person on the moon.

-PJ