APOLLO 10 Command Module, 1969 Editorial Image

Apollo 10, carrying astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan, was launched in May 1969 on a lunar orbital mission as the dress rehearsal for the actual Apollo 11 landing. Apollo 10 orbited the moon 31 times before returning to Earth. `Charlie Brown` landed in the Pacific Ocean on May 26. The success of the mission was the last step before the culmination of the dream, a manned landing on the moon the following July.