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NASA Goes All Astronaut Snoopy on New York During Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

Like it or not, this year’s Thanksgiving came and went, with all its “delightful symphony of flavor” as Elon Musk called the day’s cuisine, its parades, and nationwide family get-togethers.
Astronaut Snoopy floating over New York 11 photos
Photo: NASA
Astronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New YorkAstronaut Snoopy floating over New York
This year, the parades were particularly impressive, especially because those displaying something at these events had a lot of things to show, from the participation in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to the Artemis I mission to the Moon and totally random things.

Depending on what city you live in, parades treated bystanders with tons of colorful, themed and inflated balloons of various sizes. In New York, for instance, during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, a particular balloon caught everybody’s attention: Astronaut Snoopy.

The character has a very long relationship with NASA, having been included in the space agency’s public relations efforts ever since the early days of space exploration. As years passed, Snoopy’s influence grew to a point where we now have even something called the Silver Snoopy Award, a recognition of merits for NASA employees and contractors, with about 1 percent of the aerospace program workforce getting it each year.

Of particular interest to us today is the fact Snoopy was sent up there in the Orion capsule, to become an Artemis I astronaut of sorts. And it did, seemingly fulfilling its role as zero-g indicator with a great degree of success.

To mark the occasion and let all know what's going on thousands of miles away from Earth, a giant inflatable Snoopy, wearing the iconic NASA-orange jumpsuit, soared over the streets of the Big Apple, accompanied by representations of SpongeBob SquarePants, Baby Yoda, and Pikachu, among others.

The real astronaut Snoopy is scheduled to return to Earth about 15 days from now, provided all goes well with the Orion mission and the spaceship's remaining duties out there in space.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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