The cosmos beckons for Snoopy onscreen and in real life

NEW YORK (AP) — A new rocket designed to launch humans to the moon, Mars and beyond will launch next year from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board, will be a familiar fuzzy figure — Snoopy.

A 5-ounce plush toy version of the daydreaming beagle — wearing a space suit designed according to NASA’s strict specifications — has an important job for the Artemis I unmanned mission.

NASA uses stuffed animals on flights because when the little guys start to float, it indicates that the spacecraft has entered space’s zero gravity. Since the toys are soft and light, they won’t break anything or accidentally strike a button.

The Artemis I mission is scheduled to circle the moon and then return to Earth in February as a dry run without astronauts, making sure all systems are working for future crewed missions. Also aboard will be two Lego figurines, part of an educational series.

The upcoming mission announcement coincides with the release Friday of the second season of “Snoopy in Space,” the Emmy-nominated animated series on Apple TV+. Season one saw Snoopy become an astronaut and land on the moon. Season two sees him go further in what showrunner Mark Evestaff calls an “epic road trip.”

“We have taken a bit of a step further so that Snoopy is able to go to some of these places that we haven’t been, like Mars or the moons of Jupiter or visiting an exoplanet,” he says. “And he does it through his imagination, but it’s also based on actual science from NASA.”

Stephanie Betts, chief content officer at media company WildBrain, said season one was the perfect foundation. “Snoopy became an astronaut and was able to go to space. Well, now what do you do with that? Well, let’s go explore. Let’s have that search for life.”

Back closer to home, the plush Snoopy's gravity-monitoring...