[HN Gopher] Silver Snoopy Award
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Silver Snoopy Award
Author : LorenDB
Score : 96 points
Date : 2025-10-12 12:04 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nasa.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nasa.gov)
| 9dev wrote:
| It's an interesting tidbit, but doesn't answer the primary
| question I had: For all the pomp and ceremony government agencies
| usually go for, why _Snoopy_ of all possible medal shapes?
| hagbard_c wrote:
| Because space-Snoopy was quite a thing during the space race?
| 9dev wrote:
| Which is probably part of a totally legitimate explanation, I
| was really just pointing out that a page about this award
| could include it!
| NhanH wrote:
| The guy who created the award was a fan of Snoopy, and that's
| about it
| yallpendantools wrote:
| Not to be needlessly cynical but I'd really like an official
| citation for that :)
|
| Another question in my head is whether they had to license
| Snoopy from the estate of Schulz (or whoever holds the rights
| the Peanuts gang).
|
| ETA that unsnap_biceps just answered my questions.
| NhanH wrote:
| Here is the official official story:
| https://www.nasa.gov/history/sfa-message-everyone-plays-
| role...
|
| Though I don't think I will be able to cite an official
| document stating Al Chop is a Snoopy fan :-), so there's
| that.
| defrost wrote:
| A reporter for the _Houston Chronicle_ claimed to have
| Chop 's Snoopy fandom straight from the source . . .
| Considering Charles Schulz's retirement, this is an ideal
| time to get Al Chop to tell how he drafted Snoopy for a
| special NASA assignment. ... Chop
| said he was, at the time, director of the public affairs
| office for the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. And,
| like an estimated 355 million other people in 75
| countries, he was a fan and avid reader of Schulz's
| Peanuts comic strip. He especially liked the dog who
| often assumed a pilot's role atop the doghouse.
| "Snoopy was a flier," Chop said. "No reason he couldn't
| become an astronaut, too."
|
| ~ _No retirement for Snoopy at NASA_ -
| https://www.collectspace.com/news/news-021400a.html
|
| by Thom Marshall, Houston Chronicle, January 7, 2000
| unsnap_biceps wrote:
| After the completion of the Mercury and Gemini projects, NASA
| wanted a way to promote greater awareness among its employees
| and contractors of the impact they had on flight safety, the
| flight crews and their missions.[4] NASA wanted to use a symbol
| for spaceflight that would be well known and accepted by the
| public, similar to the recognition received by the United
| States Forest Service's Smokey Bear. The idea for the
| Silver Snoopy award came from Al Chop, who was director of the
| public affairs office for the Manned Spacecraft Center (now
| called the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center). He wanted to create
| an award featuring Snoopy as an astronaut to be given by
| astronauts in recognition of outstanding contributions by
| employees.[5] Charles M. Schulz, who was an avid
| supporter of the U.S. space program, welcomed the idea of using
| Snoopy for the award. Schulz and United Feature Syndicate (the
| distributor of the Peanuts comic strip) agreed to let NASA use
| "Snoopy the Astronaut" at no cost.[4] Schulz himself drew the
| image the award pin was based on. He also drew promotional art
| for posters to promote the award program.[5]
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Snoopy_award
| vee-kay wrote:
| Trivia: The fabric cap worn by NASA astronauts as part of the
| Extravehicular Mobility Unit is known as a "Snoopy cap", a
| reference to how the white crown and brown earflaps of the
| cap resemble Snoopy's fur and ears.
| nodesocket wrote:
| Related, Omega has a mechanical snoopy watch[1] which is coveted
| and rare with earth that circles the moon on the back of the case
| with snoopy that animates.
|
| [1] https://www.chrono24.com/omega/omega-speedmaster-silver-
| snoo...
| Luc wrote:
| Swatch released a quartz version of this by the way, in a
| composite plastic+ceramic material:
|
| https://www.chrono24.com/search/index.htm?dosearch=true&quer...
| nodesocket wrote:
| I know it's going to come off as a swiss mechanical watch
| snob, but I am disappointed that Omega allowed swatch to
| clone their work of art timepieces in what are essentially
| plastic quartz frauds. It's the opposite of what a high end
| luxury brand does. You think we've ever see Rolex make $500
| plastic quartz watches? I think not.
| Luc wrote:
| > Omega allowed swatch to clone their work of art
| timepieces
|
| Aren't they both basically brands owned by the same
| corporation (The Swatch Group)?
| lvturner wrote:
| The back of them really are stunning, sadly the listing doesn't
| seem to shown that it also has snoopy in a rocket which sweeps
| round as well as the earth rotating - they aren't limited
| edition either so not impossible to obtain! (Though... Not
| cheap either)
| nodesocket wrote:
| Indeed, it's a bucket list piece for me. Though, they have
| come down from the bat insane covid bubble prices of nearly
| $30,000.
| technofiend wrote:
| It's just anecdotal but when I asked why our Xerox workstations
| at JSC had dancing Snoopy line art, I was told Charles Schulz
| himself was a big fan of the space program and he'd drawn art for
| the program and extended its use to them in perpetuity.
|
| I have been on a team that won a silver Snoopy but was a
| subcontractor and didn't get one myself; just the Boeing
| employees I worked with did. Every once in a while I Google them
| on the off chance I could get one as a piece of memoribilia, but
| they are thousands of dollars.
| xg15 wrote:
| > _The award is a sterling silver Snoopy lapel pin that has flown
| in space_
|
| I find it interesting that "has flown in space" is presented here
| almost like a property of the material and not as history of the
| individual pins.
|
| Are the pins passed on from past recipients to new ones, so the
| time in space was during the previous wearer's mission? Or are
| there ISS missions that just carry a box of not yet awarded pins
| with them but will not do anything with the box, just so it gains
| its flown-in-space-ness?
| throwup238 wrote:
| The pins are sent aboard missions to the ISS in a package and
| then get sent back on the next return. Each pin comes with a
| certificate signed by an astronaut that specifies which mission
| it flew up on.
| SamBorick wrote:
| recipients are non-astronaut employees. based on this site:
|
| http://spaceflownartifacts.com/flown_silver_snoopy_awards.ht...
|
| seems like in the apollo era crew carried a few in their PPK
| (personal preference kit), and in the later shuttle era they
| regularly carried 500-1000 pins per mission.
| xg15 wrote:
| Ah, that makes sense, thanks.
| classified wrote:
| A Snoopy in a space suit that has actually flown in space. Very
| apt, I love it.
| gcanyon wrote:
| My stepfather (passed) earned a Silver Snoopy, one of his
| proudest moments. My stepbrother has the certificate, but not the
| lapel pin. The possibility of getting a replacement is awesome,
| so thanks for posting this!
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(page generated 2025-10-16 23:01 UTC)