Story HERE:“Peanuts” and the Mercury capsule rescue
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.
I still do! :)
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