Apollo 10's Snoopy Spun Out Over the Moon. One Switch Was in AUTO

In May 1969, two months before the first landing, Apollo 10's lunar module Snoopy flew down to about 47,000 feet above the Moon. When Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan dropped the descent stage, Snoopy suddenly began to spin and tumble for about eight seconds. The cause was a single switch left in AUTO, which handed control to the abort guidance system at exactly the wrong moment. Told from NASA's mission report (MSC-00126), the Final Flight Evaluation Report and the Apollo 10 Flight Journal, including why NASA's two explanations differ. Chapters 0:00 Stage. Gimbal lock. 0:51 The dress rehearsal 1:24 Down among them 2:08 The gyro that lied 2:53 One switch in AUTO 3:36 Eight seconds 4:08 "Something went wild" 4:37 Ten minutes to the burn 5:03 Two explanations 5:49 Snoopy goes to the Sun 6:23 Close Sources [S1] NASA History: "Apollo 10 Clears the Way for the First Moon Landing" and "55 Years Ago: Two Months Until the Moon Landing" https://www.nasa.gov/history/ [S2] Apollo 10 Flight Journal, Day 5 (parts 19-21), air-to-ground transcript with commentary https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap10... [S3] NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, "Apollo 10 Mission Report", MSC-00126, August 1969 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search?q=MSC-00126 [S4] NASA, "Apollo 10 Final Flight Evaluation Report", 1969 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search?q=Apollo... [S5] NASA Image and Video Library (image IDs in LICENSES.md) https://images.nasa.gov Credits Images: NASA (images.nasa.gov). NASA IDs: S69-20544, S69-32617, S69-32618, S69-33765, S69-33993, S69-33995, S69-33999, S69-34038, S69-34040, S69-34073, S69-34077, S69-34143, S69-34145, S69-34312, S69-34314, S69-34316, S69-34320, S69-34329, S69-35315, S69-35504, AS10-27-3873, AS10-27-3890, AS10-27-3956, AS10-29-4321, AS10-31-4537, AS10-32-4845, AS10-34-5026, AS10-34-5112, AS11-40-5927, S69-31739, S69-32616, S69-34039, S69-34385, S69-35316, S69-36594. Also NASA material via the Apollo Flight Journal (16mm onboard film frames and AFJ figures). No AI-generated images are used: every photo is a real NASA image. Seven are illustrative and labelled on screen (e.g. Mission Control and crew TV frames from other moments of the mission). Diagrams, charts and maps are original. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA. Narration is an AI-generated voice; quoted lines are an AI character reading of the Flight Journal transcript (not the real astronauts' or controllers' voices). End-card music is AI-generated (Suno); background music is original acoustic-sample pieces from our Music Studio (CC0/MIT samples). The script is written from, and checked against, the sources above. Corrections go in a pinned comment and here. #SpaceHistory #Apollo10 #NASA