Jun252009
“Peanuts” and the Mercury capsule rescue
Filed under Space / astronomy by david brooks at 9:00 am
Today’s rerun Peanuts comic strip has Linus celebrating because his security blanket - lost when sister Lucy made it into a kite that got away and floated out over the ocean - was rescued by the Air Rescue Service. It concludes with a punch line that will baffle 95 percent of readers: Charlie Brown says “That Air Rescue Service is right on the ball” and Linus answers: “I’ll say. Lieutenant Commander Carpenter and MY blanket, both within five weeks!”
Those of us old enough to have been around when these Peanuts comics first came out will realize that this is a reference to the Mercury capsule that sank missed its landing target in the Pacific Ocean by hundreds of miles, forcing a rescue missue and tainting the career of Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven astronauts. Here’s NASA’s description.
This also lets us date the strip, since the splash-down occurred May 24, 1962. I was seven when it came out; boy, I sure loved Peanuts back then.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Wasn't it Gus Grissom's capsule that sank after the hatch blew prematurely? I thought his was the only one that sank… and that Carpenter's flight was just off course and it took time to locate him.
Not that it really matters.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:51 am
thanks! I couldn't place the quote, despite being both an astronaut buff and a Peanuts reader since 1961!
June 25th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Holy Toledo, you are absolutely correct - I was so busy touting age-acquired wisdom that I combined two incidents! What a doofus!! (I'm going to tweak the article now)
June 25th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
His recovery is referred to in the Peanuts comic strip of June 28, 1962 after Linus' security blanket is rescued under similar circumstances.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Thank you. I was just 4 when this strip ran originally, and ran a search to figure out the reference.
I grew up with both Peanuts and the space program as large parts of my life. I knew of the Carpenter/Mercury incident, but didn't get the allusion, as I'm not used to hearing the astronauts referred to by rank.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I just read the strip and decided to “play detective” and google the reference to date the strip. I found this post. Thanks!