NASA’s Artemis I rocket sits on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center before its unmanned flight around the Moon.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
NASA’s Artemis I rocket sits on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center before its unmanned flight around the Moon.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Although no humans will be aboard NASA’s Artemis I mission, the Orion spacecraft will not be empty. Snoopy, Girl Scout badges, LEGO minifigures and tree seeds are just some of the thousands of memorabilia that will be on board when the mission begins on Monday.
There will also be plenty of technology gathering data during the 42day, 1.3 millionmile mission that will take the unmanned spacecraft up to 280,000 miles from Earth, circling the Moon before returning home.
It’s been nearly 50 years since humans set foot on the Moon, so the test flight will also be a test of the new rocket and spacecraft before a manned flight.
“We are aware that this is an intentional stress test of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket,” Mike Sarafin, the Artemis I mission manager, said at a press conference on Saturday .
“We will learn a lot from the test flight of Artemis I. And through this experience, we will change and modify anything that is necessary to prepare for a manned flight on the next mission.”
NASA plans to send humans to the Moon in 2025. As part of the preparation, the passengers aboard this mission will be mannequins.
Commander Moonikin Campos will wear one of the new Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits that will include two radiation sensors.
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Commander Moonikin Campos will wear one of the new Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits that will include two radiation sensors.
NASA
Meet Commander Moonikin Campos
This mannequin received its name from a public contest and was eventually named after Arturo Campos, the NASA engineer who was instrumental in getting the Apollo 13 crew back to Earth safely.
Moonikin Campos will sit in the commander’s seat. Under the seat are sensors to measure acceleration and vibration to help assess what human crew members might experience during a flight. Campos will be dressed in the official Orion Crew Survival System spacesuit that will include two radiation sensors.
And while Moonikin Campos can certainly have fun, he won’t be alone. Two more dummies will sit on it.
Helga and Zohar, the mannequin torsos also known as ghosts, will also sit with Moonikin Campos. Their part of the mission involves collecting data on radiation levels that astronauts may encounter on future lunar missions.
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Helga and Zohar, the mannequin torsos also known as ghosts, will also sit with Moonikin Campos. Their part of the mission involves collecting data on radiation levels that astronauts may encounter on future lunar missions.
NASA
Helga and Zohar are what NASA calls phantoms, or mannequin torsos made of materials that mimic human bones, soft tissues and adult female organs. A large part of its mission consists in the detection and measurement of radiation.
“Zohar will wear a radiation protection vest, called AstroRad, while Helga will not,” NASA said in a description of the dummies’ functions. “The study will provide valuable data on the radiation levels astronauts may encounter on lunar missions and evaluate the effectiveness of the protective vest that could allow the crew to exit the storm shelter and continue working on missioncritical activities. mission despite a solar storm.”
Don’t forget Snoopy
While there are many miscellaneous items joining the exciting Artemis I mission, none may be as recognizable as Snoopy, the black and white dog created by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz.
Snoopy is not new to NASA and has been linked to lunar missions since 1969, when the Apollo 10 lunar module was nicknamed Snoopy for its role in scouting or “snooping” a landing site for the Apollo 11 mission.
According to NASA, Schulz also created cartoons of Snoopy on the moon that captured “the public’s excitement about America’s achievements in space” during the Apollo years.
This time, however, Snoopy has a mission of his own. Since the Artemis I mission is unmanned, a stuffed Snoopy will serve as a zerogravity indicator to show the team on the ground when the spacecraft reaches zero gravity.