HOUSTON: The lunar module carrying two US Astronauts today [May 22] separated from the Apollo-10 capsule circling the moon, and fired its descent engine which will take it to an altitude of 15 km (50,000 feet) above the moon’s surface. After separation, the two spacecraft circled the moon 12 meters apart, waiting until it was time for the module — nicknamed Snoopy — to depart on its eight-hour close look at the moon, nine miles above the lunar surface.

Earlier, astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eug­ene Cernan had cleared up a problem which thre­­­­a­­­tened the most crucial part of the Apollo-10 flight and were given the green light for the lunar module swoop... The problem cropped up when ... they were unable to expel fully oxygen in the tunnel linking the command module to the lunar-lander — a procedure which must be carried out before the two craft can separate. Ground controllers swiftly fed the problem into a computer, which came up with a modified plan of action. ... [J]ust over an hour before the craft were due to separate for the most critical phase of the flight, the go-ahead for separation was given by mission control. Within minutes of the Apollo ship’s emergence from behind the moon, astronaut John Young broadcast to earth live television pictures of the lunar module as the two craft floated together. — Agency

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019