Video: 'Today in Space History 05-22 - Snoopy Around the Mun (Apollo 10)

(Thursday, May 22, 1969, 21:29:43 UTC) — Two American astronauts, riding a frail, bug-shaped spacecraft, swooped down within 8.4 nautical miles of the Moon’s surface today to demonstrate successfully all the steps of a lunar landing except the actual touchdown.

Apollo 10‘s lunar module (designated as Snoopy) separated from the lunar orbiter (designated Charlie Brown) as astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan fired the descent engines to make the closest approach up to that time to the Moon.

Apollo 10 was described as a “dress rehearsal” flight to clear the way for the first planned lunar landing by men just two months from now.