tech
Eight-year-old space lover’s plushie shoots for moon onboard Nasa rocket
Lucas Ye of California ‘really surprised and very happy’ as mascot designed by him to act as zero-gravity indicator
TL;DR
- An eight-year-old's plush toy, designed as a zero-gravity indicator, is part of NASA's Artemis II mission.
- The toy, named Rise, will float to signal when astronauts achieve weightlessness.
- Lucas Ye, the designer, won a global 'moon mascot' competition judged by NASA and Freelancer.
- This mission is NASA's first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years.
- Artemis II will involve the first woman and first person of color to fly between Earth's orbit and the moon.
- The mission's success will inform future Artemis missions, including a 2028 mission to land humans on the moon.