The Cosmos Beckons for Snoopy Onscreen and in Real Life

This image released by Apple TV+ shows a scene from "Snoopy in Space." (Apple TV+ via AP)
This image released by Apple TV+ shows a scene from "Snoopy in Space." (Apple TV+ via AP)
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The Cosmos Beckons for Snoopy Onscreen and in Real Life

This image released by Apple TV+ shows a scene from "Snoopy in Space." (Apple TV+ via AP)
This image released by Apple TV+ shows a scene from "Snoopy in Space." (Apple TV+ via 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 task — it’s officially called the zero gravity indicator — will be far from the first stuffed toy used by astronauts. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, had a small doll when he launched on Vostok 1.

Since then, an owl doll and an Angry Birds toy have been on the International Space Station, a plush R2-D2 was used as the talisman on a Soyuz mission in 2015 and a stuffed snowman Olaf from the movie “Frozen” has gone up. A plush Snoopy has also been on the space station.

Snoopy has a long history with NASA, starting when the Apollo X astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan chose “Peanuts” characters as nicknames — the command module was called Charlie Brown, and the lunar module was Snoopy.

“Someone had the idea of trying to bring more interest into the space program. By the time they got to Apollo 10, they felt that the program was going to become a little stale,” said Craig Schulz, son of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz. “For my dad, it was probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest honor, that could ever be bestowed upon his comic strip.”

Charles Schulz, for his part, drew strips with Snoopy walking on the lunar surface. “I did it! I’m first beagle on the moon! I beat the Russians... I beat everybody... I even beat that stupid cat who lives next door!” says Snoopy in one.

NASA and “Peanuts” have frequently been interwoven. The space agency honors its best employees with the Silver Snoopy Award, and a Snoopy doll was aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in 2019.

The plush 10-inch-by-7 inch Snoopy that is being readied for the Artemis I mission was not the kind you’d find on a Target shelf. It’s a one-of-a-kind work and painstakingly designed using only NASA-approved materials. Stress-testing it is due in December.

“The spacesuit had to meet all the requirements and be of the same quality that the astronauts would be wearing, both in the materials and what got approved. So it was a months-long process of going back and forth and back and forth as they considered all the materials used on the spacesuit,” said Craig Schulz.

In many ways, the reuniting of Snoopy and NASA in 2021 mirrors the way the two initially worked together to generate interest in space exploration.

“Space travel is almost become so normalized now,” said Schulz. “People’s attention span is a little weak, for the most part. So when you inject some of that entertaining Snoopy, you’re going to capture the audience.”



Spain Public Broadcaster Calls for ‘Debate’ over Israel’s Eurovision Participation

Yuval Raphael. (AP)
Yuval Raphael. (AP)
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Spain Public Broadcaster Calls for ‘Debate’ over Israel’s Eurovision Participation

Yuval Raphael. (AP)
Yuval Raphael. (AP)

Spain's public broadcaster said on Friday it has called for a "debate" over Israel's participation in this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland due to "concerns" over the situation in war-torn Gaza.

RTVE has sent a letter to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which manages the event, "requesting a debate on the participation of Israeli public television (KAN)" in the contest, the Spanish public broadcaster said in a statement.

The Swiss city of Basel will host the glitzy annual extravaganza -- one of the world's biggest live television events which involves countries from Europe to Australia -- at the St. Jakobshalle indoor arena, with the semi-finals on May 13 and 15, and the final on May 17.

Public broadcasters of participating nations select the candidate which will represent them, so the absence of KAN would mean there is no Israeli performer at this year's event.

RTVE said it "reiterates its support" for Eurovision "but also acknowledges the concerns that the situation in Gaza and the participation of KAN public television are raising within Spanish civil society".

"It would be appropriate for the EBU to recognize the existence of this debate and provide a forum for discussion between EBU member broadcasters on the participation of Israeli public television," the statement added.

- October 7 survivor -

Thousands protested at last year's contest in the Swedish city of Malmo against Israel's participation against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli competitor Eden Golan had to change her lyrics over their apparent references to the deadly Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.

A survivor of that attack will represent Israel in Basel.

When Hamas gunmen killed more than 370 people at the Nova music festival, Yuval Raphael survived by hiding under a pile of bodies. She said she would be ready to face the kind of hostility Golan did.

Finland's public broadcaster Yle received two petitions last month demanding it push for Israel to be banned from the contest due to the war in Gaza.

One was signed by more than 500 music and culture industry professionals, while a public petition was signed by over 10,000 people.

Israel has won the contest four times, most recently in Lisbon in 2018.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian gunmen launched a cross-border attack in Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's ensuing bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 51,000 people in the territory, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has deemed its figures generally reliable.