Snoopy, dummies and Apollo 11 items will swing by the moon on Artemis I

The Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule, scheduled to take off on August 29, will carry some special items on board as the spacecraft embarks on a journey beyond the moon.

Inside Orion will be three dummies, toys and even an Amazon Alexa, along with historical and educational items.

The mission that will eventually launch the Artemis program to return humans to the moon continues a tradition that began in the 1960s when NASA spacecraft carried memories. Tradition includes: Voyager probe’s golden record and Perseverance rover’s microchip with 10.9 million names. Artemis I, I will carry 120 kilos of memorabilia and other items in the official flight case.

Orion’s commanding chair will be Commander Moonikin Campos, a viable dummy capable of collecting data on what future human crews might experience on a moon voyage. His name, chosen through a public contest, is a nod to Arturo Campos.and NASA electrical power subsystem manager who assisted in the safe return of Apollo 13 to Earth.

The commander’s mission has sensors behind the seat and headrest to monitor acceleration and vibration during the mission, which is expected to last approximately 42 days. The model will also wear the new Orion Crew Survival System suit designed for astronauts to wear during takeoff and re-entry. The suit has two radiation sensors.

Commander Moonikin Campos will board Artemis I in a data collection outfit.

Two “ghosts” named Helga and Zohar will ride on the other Orion seats. These mannequin bodies are made of materials that mimic a woman’s soft tissue, organs, and bones. The two bodies have more than 5,600 sensors and 34 radiation detectors to measure how much radiation they were exposed to during the mission.

Mannequins are part of the job Matroshka AstroRad Radiation ExperimentA collaboration between the German Aerospace Center, the Israel Space Agency, NASA and institutions in multiple countries. Zohar will wear the AstroRad, a radiation protection vest, to test how effective it can be if future crews encounter a solar storm.

The Zohar mannequin will wear a protective vest called the AstroRad.

Amazon’s Alexa will take the ride As a technology demonstration developed between Lockheed Martin, Amazon, and Cisco. Callisto’s tech demo features reconfigured versions of Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa and Cisco’s teleconferencing platform WebEx to test how these apps perform in space.

Named after one of the hunting maids of Artemis in Greek mythology, Callisto’s goal is to show how astronauts and flight controllers can use technology to make their jobs safer and more efficient as humans explore deep space.

NASA's first Artemis to be a virtual astronaut on moon mission: Amazon's Alexa

Callisto will accompany Orion in the center console. The touchscreen tablet will share live video and audio between the spacecraft and Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control Center in Houston.

toys in space

Snoopy and emptiness just go together. Created by Charles M. Schulz, the beloved character has been associated with NASA missions since the Apollo program, when Schulz drew comics showing Snoopy on the moon. According to NASA, the Apollo 10 lunar module was nicknamed “Snoopy” because its mission was to spy and reconnaissance the Apollo 11 moon landing site.

Snoopy will serve as Artemis I's zero gravity indicator.

A Snoopy plush first flew into space in 1990 on the shuttle Columbia.

A nib used by Schulz of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, will join the Artemis I mission, wrapped in a space-themed comic. And a plush Snoopy toy will fly in the pod as a zero-gravity display.

The agency has a long history of using toys in space as zero-gravity indicators – so named because they begin to float when the spacecraft enters zero gravity.

As part of NASA’s collaboration with the European Space Agency, which provided the service module for Orion, a small Shaun the Sheep toy will also be a passenger to Artemis. The character is part of a children’s show from the “Wallace and Gromit” series.

Shaun the Sheep is pictured in front of a model of the Orion spacecraft.

The four Lego minifigures will also be featured in Orion as part of an ongoing partnership between NASA and the Lego Group, in hopes of engaging children and adults in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

a space time capsule

Artemis I Official Flight Kit, containing thousands of itemsWhen the capsule splashes into the Pacific Ocean in October, it has various patches, pins and flags to share with those who contributed to the first flight.

Employees review Artemis I mission patches prior to flight.

A range of items honor the contributions of students and teachers, including space science badges from the Girl Scouts of America, digitized student visions of lunar exploration from the German Space Agency, and digital entries from the Artemis Moon Pod essay competition. Interest in STEM.

Various tree and plant seeds will be on board to pay homage to a similar tradition that began during the Apollo 14 mission. The seeds were then planted and became “Moon Trees” as part of an experiment to understand the effects of the space environment on seeds. NASA will share Artemis seeds with teachers and educational institutions when the capsule returns.

Britain's space agency hunts for 'moon trees' grown from seeds leading to the Apollo 14 lunar mission

Several Apollo items are with you for the journey, including an Apollo 8 commemorative medallion, an Apollo 11 mission patch, a bolt from one of Apollo 11’s F-1 engines, and a small moonstone collected during Apollo 11 and also flying on the last space shuttle. Flight. The items were shared by the National Air and Space Museum, which will be featured in an exhibit upon their return.

The bolt of one of Apollo 11's F-1 engines will fly aboard Artemis I.

Cultural artifacts will also be in flight. A 3D-printed replica of the Greek goddess Artemis will participate in space travel and will later be displayed at Greece’s Acropolis Museum. The European Space Agency has shared a postcard of Georges Méliès’ famous “Journey to the Moon” artwork for the flight kit.

And the Israel Space Agency donated a pebble from Earth’s lowest dry land surface, off the coast of the Dead Sea, to travel aboard Artemis 1, a flight that will go further than any human has ever gone before.