— The primary astronauts getting ready to fly to the moon in additional than 50 years need your assist figuring out their fifth crew member — their “moon mascot.”
NASA’s Artemis II crew is looking for an authentic concept for his or her zero-g indicator (ZGI), a stuffed toy or doll that might be suspended from a tether of their Orion spacecraft to sign after they enter the microgravity setting of area. The Artemis II mission, which is focused to launch no ahead of late 2026, will swing the crew across the moon after which return them to Earth.
Mission commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen revealed the competition throughout a chat on the South by Southwest (SXSW) pageant in Austin, Texas. (Victor Glover, the mission’s pilot, needed to be at Johnson House Heart in Houston to assist choose the following class of NASA astronaut candidates.)
“I can not stress sufficient how a lot this factor turns into the mascot of your crew, as a result of it is the one factor allowed within the cabin that is not been hardware-certified or designed by the Orion engineers, and it is the best factor ever,” mentioned Koch on Friday (March 7). “It begins floating whenever you’re in area, and as we’re all nonetheless strapped in our seats, there’s actually nothing else to point out that you’re truly in area for the in-cabin digital camera views besides your zero-gravity indicator that’s floating round.”
“So these are a extremely cool a part of our missions, and we actually did not need any of these friction factors attempting to determine what we had been going to have,” mentioned Koch. “So we’re placing this contest out to you all. We might find it irresistible if somebody on this viewers, however truly anybody from world wide, can enter into this contest and hopefully design what is going on to go across the moon in our capsule with us.”
NASA has partnered with the crowdsourcing firm Freelancer to run the competition, which is open via Could 27 to elementary faculty college students and adults, working as people, lecture rooms or groups, within the U.S. or a non-designated nation (international locations that aren’t get together to the Basic Settlement on Tariffs and Commerce [GATT] or a Free Commerce Settlement [FTA] with the U.S.). Relying on their age, as much as 25 chosen entries will win $1,225 every or an Artemis prize pack.
The competition is looking for designs which might be assembled by NASA’s thermal blanket lab for flight. As such, submissions have to be authentic; related to a world viewers, representing humanity; and significant to the Artemis II mission and astronauts. The completed ZGI wants to have the ability to match right into a 6-inch sq. (15.25-cm) field and weigh no heavier than 0.75 kilos (0.34 kg).
For security causes, the designs can solely be made utilizing Nomex thread; fake fur, polyester or cotton cloth; Beta material, Kevlar or Vinyl; Kapton/VDA polyimide movie; and poly-fil for stuffing. No different supplies are allowed.
The custom of flying zero-gravity indicators started within the former Soviet Union with the world’s first human spaceflight. In 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin carried a small doll with him aboard his Vostok capsule to see it float. Since then, a lot of Gagarin’s fellow cosmonauts have flown toys and stuffed dolls as talisman and ZGI, typically on the suggestion of their kids.
“Giraffiti flew with me on my one and solely flight to the Worldwide House Station,” mentioned Wiseman, holding up an opulent toy giraffe. “He nonetheless has slightly bit of sewing on his neck in order that he might be hung up in our Soyuz [spacecraft].”
“This was the primary present my mother ever gave to my first born daughter, so this was very sentimental,” he advised the viewers at SXSW.
The ZGI {custom} migrated to the U.S. with the primary flights of NASA’s Industrial Crew program, with each SpaceX and Boeing launching their missions with toys on board. A few of these ZGI have included a plush Earth globe, a sequined dinosaur and a sparkly narwhal.
NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I mission, which flew across the moon in 2022, carried a custom-made Snoopy doll, full with a miniature model of the identical strain go well with that the Artemis II astronauts will put on on Orion. The Peanuts caricature beagle spent many of the 25.5-day flight floating on the finish of a leash (tether) as he logged greater than 1.4 million miles (2.3 million km).
Snoopy has been the protection mascot at NASA since earlier than the primary crewed Apollo launch in 1968 and extra not too long ago has joined the total Peanuts gang as a logo for STEM (science, expertise, engineering and math) training and the Artemis deep area missions.
NASA will in the end select one of many profitable entries of the “Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Problem” to fly on the mission. The profitable designs might be introduced on or earlier than July 31, 2025.
“The indicator will float alongside Victor, Christina, Jeremy, and me as we go across the far facet of the Moon and remind us of all of you again on Earth,” mentioned Wiseman.
