Sending Weird Things into Space - Can We Get a Big Cheese on the Moon?

Big Piece of Cheese on the Moon with Earth in background.

After Elon Musk's SpaceX program launched a Tesla with their Starman into space, Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, thinks he can go weirder by sending himself, his brother Mark, and a mystery winning bidder of a third seat in his Blue Origin, reusable rocket, the New Shepard, into space. Which is not weird in itself but kind of sounds a bit bonkers when you word it as "we're sending our CEO into space".

To be fair Jeff is fulfilling a life long dream of going into space, and probably wants to demonstrate that his new space tourism business is safe by trying it out for himself. I'm not sure Elon ever had a lifelong dream to launch a car into space but good on him for doing it just because he can.

Of course NASA and Russia's Space programs pioneered sending weird things into space in the 1960's, particularly chimpanzees, but, more weirdly a dog (or two?). I kind of understand the chimpanzees as an analogue for human space travel but I'm not so sure about the dog?

Since then musical instruments, pizzas, Lego mini figures, Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, and even people's ashes have been launched into space. Some to return and others not so much.

Not to be out done Elon is launching Dogecoin into space, possibly in the hope that it can reach a new high after his SNL appearance sent the cryptocurrency into a downward trend of 30% when he jokingly admitted it was a 'hustle.'

Of course he's not literally sending the currency into space. He's actually naming a satellite after it, the Doge-1, in a collaboration with SpaceX and Geometric Energy Corp., a Canadian technology firm.

The satellite will be paid for with Dogecoin and will be launched to the moon in some project that is described as the 'foundation for interplanetary commerce' by SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales, Tom Ochinero.

Personally I'm a fan of sending weird things into space but I'd like to see a little more imagination than company CEOs and electric cars. Living in a country that has an obsession with 'big' things, can we maybe install a 'big cheese' on the moon?

(Jeff Bezos doesn't count as the first big cheese in space).

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