Snoopy and Space
- 4th Oct 2025
- Author: Emma Mosley
This year is a big year for Snoopy, as he turns 75!
Our favourite ‘Head Beagle’ Snoopy has stolen our hearts over the years as part of Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts. With fans young and old across the globe, Snoopy is as popular as ever, and remains in the spotlight with his current TV show ‘Snoopy in Space’.
To celebrate his legacy, we’re taking a look at the history of the cartoon character and how he ended up going on out of this world adventures!
Snoopy's Birth
In the comic strip Peanuts, which is based around a group of young children, Snoopy is the pet beagle of one of the main characters called Charlie Brown. He lives in a red kennel in his garden. The comic strip, during its height of popularity, was published in newspapers everyday across the globe.
The cartoonist, Charles M. Schulz, was born in Minneapolis, USA on 26 November 1922. He grew up with a love of comic strips from his father, who used to buy the local papers to read all the cartoons. Charles wanted to be a cartoonist but had to wait until after serving in World War Two before forging his career. His big break came in 1950 when his comic strip Peanuts was first published on 2 October 1950. Snoopy appeared for the first time two days later on 4 October.
Charles was inspired to include a dog into his comic by one of his own pet dogs from childhood. He was called Spike and was a black and white mixed breed dog and described as very bright, understanding at least 50 words!
Charles kept drawing continuously up until before his death in February 2000. Over the years, storylines have expanded and new characters were introduced. The characters started to develop more personality and branch out, particularly Snoopy who has at least 90 personas! In October 1965, he went on to be a World War One flying ace! Wearing his flying cap, goggles, and signature scarf, he flew on top of his red kennel in dogfights against the infamous Red Baron. He is also a world famous author and Head Beagle amongst many other roles.
Snoopy became a popular and very recognisable cartoon character so it is no wonder he was asked to take part in a very important job!
Getting a job at NASA
In the 1960s, NASA’s Apollo mission was starting to take off after the successes of the Mercury and Gemini projects. However, disaster struck on 27 January 1967, when Apollo 1 caught fire during a launch rehearsal, killing the three astronauts onboard. Everything was put on pause while NASA held an investigation into what had happened.
The safety campaign for staff was called the Manned Flight Awareness Program, known today as Space Flight Awareness. It was created in 1963 to promote excellence and safety within the workforce in NASA and its contractors. After Apollo 1, this took on a whole new level of importance.
The deputy director of the public affairs office at the Manned Flight Centre, now the Johnson Space Centre, was a chap called Al Chop. He wanted a mascot to be the face of the programme to keep staff and contractors motivated to maintain high standards of safety. The US Forest Service had made their safety campaigns a success by using a mascot called Smokey Bear. So Al Chop decided to ask Charles M. Schulz if he would be interested in his character Snoopy becoming a safety mascot for NASA.
Luckily for NASA, Charles was a huge follower of the Apollo Space Program and he agreed. He even drew Snoopy for the posters and the silver pin for the new Silver Snoopy Award. This was a coveted award where an astronaut presented the pin, which had genuinely flown in space, to a member of staff who had gone above and beyond in the name of safety. The criteria was really strict, yet over 15,000 of them have been awarded across NASA and its contractors since 1968.
Concerns were raised by the Peanuts publishing syndicate to Charles about his beloved creation being associated with the Apollo missions. If something was to go wrong, it might not be good for the future of the comic. Luckily for Charles, who was undeterred, the Apollo missions were a huge success leading to Snoopy being the first Beagle on the Moon!
Apollo's love of Snoopy
As the safety mascot at NASA, Snoopy became very well loved by the staff and started to appear everywhere:
- The black and white caps worn by the Apollo astronauts were called Snoopy caps, as they looked like the top of Snoopy's head!
- The first Silver Snoopy Award sent into space was in 1968 with the Apollo 8 crew, who became the first humans to travel around the Moon.
- In 1969 Apollo 10 was the dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, testing everything before the attempted landing on the Moon. The Lunar Module was to 'snoop' above the lunar surface making observations of the features. So naturally, they called the Lunar Module 'Snoopy' and the Command Module 'Charlie Brown'.
- Onboard Apollo 10 were two drawings, one of Snoopy with a red background and the other of Charlie Brown with a blue background. This was to help calibrate the onboard cameras that were transmitting back to Earth.
- During Apollo 10, in the Mission Control Room, taped to the top of the monitors were Snoopy and Charlie Brown mascots.
- Staff also liked to draw their own cartoon Snoopy with them appearing in unusual places. Snoopy found his way onto one of the Apollo 17 astronauts cuff checklists used when they were on the Moon. In the drawing, Snoopy was bouncing across the lunar surface with the words 'The beginning not the end'.
- Snoopy has appeared as a giant inflatable astronaut in 1968 in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade held in New York. In 1969, Snoopy was dressed as an Apollo astronaut in honour of the first Lunar landing which happened that year. Since then Snoopy or Charlie Brown have appeared most years and in 2019-2022, Snoopy was dressed as an Artemis astronaut.
Flying high as an Astronaut!
While thriving as a mascot for NASA, Snoopy also has a successful career as an astronaut. He has indeed been into space multiple times continuing past the Apollo missions.
The first time a plushie Snoopy went into space was in January 1990, when he joined the crew of STS-32 onboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. During the eleven days in space, Snoopy in his aviator outfit, helped the crew onboard with their day to day duties.
It took 29 years until his next trip to space when he visited the International Space Station (ISS). He flew on Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft in their twelfth cargo resupply mission. Whilst onboard he took part in a Thanksgiving message with astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, celebrating 20 years of the ISS. You can watch it here. Snoopy was wearing the new orange suit that will be worn by the Artemis astronauts, NASA's latest mission to take humans back to the Moon.
The first of these missions was Artemis 1 and launched in November 2022. There was no human crew onboard though there was a very special Beagle with his friends, including Shaun the Sheep. Snoopy had proved his astronaut potential and was selected to be the gravity indicator onboard the Orion spacecraft. His important job was to show when weightlessness had occurred as he would start to float around.
What's next?
As of September 2025, there is no news of any new missions for Snoopy. Though an astronaut might decide they need Snoopy's expertise, whether it be to a mission to Mars or further out. There is a long history between Peanuts Worldwide (who own Peanuts) and NASA, with their current agreement valid until 2028. It will be exciting to see what adventures they get up to!
While Snoopy is waiting for his next assignment he has been busy and not just with his TV shows. With this year being Snoopy's and Peanut's 75th birthday, there are lots of events happening across the globe to celebrate.
Charles M. Schulz stated that after his death, he would like no one to draw the Peanuts comic which has been respected. No more comics have been produced but the characters have stayed alive through TV series, films, and games. Peanuts Worldwide has worked with NASA and Apple TV+ to create a TV show called 'Snoopy in Space', which ran for two series. It follows Snoopy learning about what it takes to be an astronaut with the help of his friends.
Here at the National Space Centre we also love Snoopy. Currently on rotation, our resident Snoopy is on display in our Space Oddities gallery along with other NASA Snoopy memorabilia. Come along and say Happy Birthday, or find out more about him here.
Snoopy is an incredible character who has reached across the generations, our hearts and minds. He will forever be associated with the NASA and their Apollo missions, marking his place in history!
Happy 75th Birthday Snoopy and wishing you many more!
Image Credits:
Banner - Snoopy Macys Parade 2022 - Anthony Quintano CC BY 2.0
Image 1 - Charles Schulz - Public Domain
Image 2 - Silver Snoopy Pin - NASA Glenn Research Center
Image 3a - John Young wearing a Snoopy Cap - NASA
Image 3b - Apollo 10 inflight Snoopy - NASA
Image 3c - Apollo 10 inflight Charlie Brown - NASA
Image 3d - Charlie and Snoopy Mission Control Center - NASA
Image 3e - Stafford pats Snoopy - NASA
Image 4a - STS-32 with Snoopy - NASA
Image 4b - Snoopy Artemis zero-g indicator - NASA/Kim Shiflett
Image 4b - Inside Artemis I with Snoopy - NASA
Image 5 - Signed Snoopy Doll - National Space Centre
