Early Wednesday morning, NASA's Artemis 1 mission arrived at the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center to prepare for its history-making return to the Moon. The journey of Artemis 1 will provide a pathway for astronauts, including those from Canada, to reach the Moon and perhaps one day Mars.
The Orion spacecraft now sits atop NASA's newest and most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System or SLS, at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B. Scheduled for an August 29 lift-off, Orion is being prepped for flight as the first human-rated spacecraft to fly on a lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
In 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crew-rated spacecraft to reach the Moon, completing 10 orbits before returning to Earth. Three astronauts, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, were on board during the mission.
In contrast, Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed mission, controlled from the ground during its 42-day flight around the Moon and back.
Uncrewed, but not empty
The Orion spacecraft won't be completely empty, though.
The three seats in the capsule will be occupied by specially designed mannequins. One, named Commander Moonikin Campos, is outfitted with sensors to test the stresses that astronauts will endure on future flights. Meanwhile, two mannequin torsos, or phantoms, named Helga and Zohar, will return data on radiation exposure during the trip.
According to NASA, "Each of these purposeful passengers aboard Orion inform astronaut working conditions and safety, helping NASA and its partners better prepare for — and minimize — the potentially harmful effects from deep space missions for space travel farther from Earth, and longer in duration, than ever before."
These mannequins won't be entirely alone for this first return flight to the Moon.
Riding along with them will be a small plush doll of Shaun the Sheep (of Wallace & Gromit fame) provided by the European Space Agency.
"As one of the first astronauts to fly an Artemis mission, Shaun is leading the way in lunar exploration, a great honour for our woolly adventurer!" Lucy Wendover, Marketing Director at Aardman, the animation studio that created Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, said in an ESA press release.
Included in the collection of mementos going to space in the Artemis 1 Official Flight Kit are the rest of the Orion 'passenger' list — four LEGO minifigures, developed for LEGO Education's Build to Launch program, and a one-of-a-kind Snoopy plush that will act as the mission's zero-g indicator.
