I can’t tell you how pleased I am to finally see such an important chapter in U.S. space exploration history given its just due in a major travelling exhibition. To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA at the San Diego Air & Space Museum chronicles the pivotal moment in the race to the moon when my idol Snoopy joined the Apollo 10 mission.

It all started back in 1968 when the Silver Snoopy Award program was instituted to reward NASA employees and contractors for important contributions to the safety of space flight missions. Snoopy has faithfully been on the job ever since, 40-plus years and counting, as NASA’s official safety mascot.

Just as significant was the honor NASA bestowed on Snoopy when it named the Apollo 10 lunar module after the world’s most famous beagle. On May 22, 1969, “Snoopy” flew within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface to scout an ideal landing site for the Apollo 11 astronauts, who arrived two months later.

A family-friendly exhibition, Snoopy Soars with NASA brings together a vast array of photographs, memorabilia, artifacts, and models to tell the story of Snoopy’s role in making one giant step for animal-kind possible. It even includes a Peanuts comic-strip series from March 1969 that reveals Snoopy was in fact the very first earthling to reach the moon. Now that’s what I call out of this world!