Eight-Year-Old's Moon-Inspired Plush Heads To Space On Artemis II
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On April 1, Artemis II's Orion spacecraft blasted off into space for a trip around the Moon. Inside were four astronauts and an adorable stuffed toy named Rise. The tiny plush had a simple, but important job — to float when the spacecraft reached zero gravity. This gave the crew an easy, visual signal that it was safe to unbuckle their seatbelts.
Rise is the brainchild of Lucas Ye, a second grader from Mountain View, California. The eight-year-old created it for NASA's "Moon Mascot" Challenge. The contest invited people from around the world to design small objects that could float in space. Lucas's design was picked from more than 2,600 entries spanning 50 countries.
Rise is a small, Moon-shaped, white plush wearing a planet-themed baseball cap. The cap features Earth and a galaxy-and-rockets design. It was inspired by a 1968 "Earthrise" photograph taken during the Apollo 8 mission. Like Artemis II, Apollo 8 carried astronauts around the Moon.
As a reward for his winning design, Lucas and his family got to attend the Artemis II launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The eight-year-old described seeing the launch in person as "really cool."
The tradition of using stuffed toys as visual zero-gravity indicators began with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. He brought a small doll with him on the 1961 Vostok 1 mission to see it float in microgravity. Since then, the fun custom has appeared on many missions. Even the uncrewed Artemis I carried a Snoopy plush dressed in an astronaut suit.
Resources: ABCnews.com, Washingtonpost.com, NewYorktimes.com
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83 Comments
wysyrivecowi7 daysYou goated kid in the world
ilovemochi8 daysThe fact that a second grader made that is just so cute!!!
cozyfox8 daysThat kids lucky :3- cozyfox8 daysomg I have the snoopy in a astronaut suit that they put on Artemis I :O
degatejedani7 daysI like all of the submitions that were entered
biancaslay8 daysThe kid must wish to go to space. That is just so sweet.
rufojysuroma9 daysyo Rise was so cute in the photo
preppymama899 days#spacekidisagenius
fudgebrownie10 daysWow, This kid must really know a lot about space.
vycanumunaly10 daysits so cool that kids can get famuse just from volinteering and being crateve
tofufogamuri10 daysThat's awesome that they use a plush to help them with zero gravity.
