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Following just two months after Apollo 9, and coming just two months before Apollo 11,
Apollo 10 was launched 50 years ago this week.
The mission, which is reviewed in
Hamish Lindsay's essay on the Honeysuckle Creek website,
called for the Lunar Module,
crewed by Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan,
to fly within 15,000 metres of the lunar surface
before redocking with the
Command and Service Module, crewed by John Young.
The image above shows the CSM, dubbed Charlie Brown, as viewed from the LM,
which was named Snoopy for this mission.
Apart from a few worrying moments when the LM temporarily lost attitude control,
the mission was a success, paving the way for the moon landing to follow.
Among the celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of that event,
the CSIRO Parkes Observatory
will be holding Open Days on the anniversary weekend of 20-21 July 2019.
The public is invited to visit the Observatory and enjoy activities
including tours of the telescope, talks by special guest speakers and astronomers,
daytime astronomy viewings of the brightest stars, planets and Sun by the members of the Central West Astronomical Society,
and a screening of the film, The Dish, on the Saturday night, in the field adjacent to the telescope (weather permitting).
(Image from www.honeysucklecreek.net)
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