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Author
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Topic: Dick Tracy's 'Moon Maid' aboard Apollo 10
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 44664
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-20-2020 02:45 PM
   
Multiple newspaper articles in 1969 reported that a special comic drawn by Dick Tracy illustrator Chester Gould was flown aboard the Apollo 10 mission as a surprise for the astronauts. The drawing, which featured the "Moon Maid" character from the Dick Tracy comic strips, was apparently a gag arranged by Ed Mitchell as a member of the backup crew. From the Chicago Tribune on May 21, 1969: Their fellow space traveler is a gal and a pretty cute one at that. She's Moon Maid, that winsome lass with the twin antennae atop her head who graces the frames of cartoonist Chester Gould's Dick Tracy comic strip.For this occasion, Moon Maid will be holding a big bouquet with a ribbon welcoming the astronauts to the moon and a menu announcing a "giant escargot" dinner. The space explorers will discover their visitor when NASA ground controllers instruct them to open an album stowed away aboard Apollo 10. And with luck, we'll all get to see her via the space craft's TV camera. Gould drew the cartoon at the behest of Cmdr. E.D. Mitchell of NASA. It was kept secret until the men blasted off... Has anyone heard of, or better yet seen, this gag comic before? Per the researcher working to confirm Gould's drawing did indeed fly, the NASA history office does not have record of it and Gen. Stafford does not recall seeing it.  | |
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