On May 18, 1969, NASA launched Apollo 10 — the final dress rehearsal before the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Crewed by Tom Stafford, John Young, and Gene Cernan, Apollo 10 flew the Lunar Module to within 47,000 feet of the lunar surface. All three crew members were military aviators.
Apollo 10 had one job: prove that everything was ready for the actual landing. The crew descended to just 8.4 nautical miles above the Moon's surface — close enough to see boulders and craters in stunning detail — and then fired their ascent engine and climbed back to rejoin the Command Module.
Their Lunar Module, named Snoopy, holds a speed record that still stands: on the return journey, the crew reached 24,791 mph — the fastest any human beings have ever traveled. The Command Module, Charlie Brown, safely returned them to Earth on May 26.
Gene Cernan, who later became the last man to walk on the Moon during Apollo 17, described Apollo 10 as "the most complex, most intricate, most exacting mission in the history of manned spaceflight." And they did it without landing — because NASA wanted perfection before committing to the historic touchdown.
Apollo 10 took humanity to the doorstep of the Moon. At Cleared4Tees, we celebrate every crew that went further than anyone thought possible.
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Blue skies and tailwinds — The Cleared4Tees Crew ✈️
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