NASA Goes Back to the Moon - Sending More Weird Stuff Into Space Onboard the Artemis I Spacecraft

A suited manikin (named Commander Moonikin Campos during a public contest) will occupy the commander’s seat inside the Orion capsule to provide data on what crew members may experience in flight.

All going to plan, by the time this blog is posted, NASA's Artemis I spacecraft will be on its way to the moon. Scheduled to launch August 29th, the unmanned spacecraft will circle around the moon over 42 days before returning to Earth. The trip is a 'proof of concept' mission that will eventually lead to an astronaut training facility established on the moon, with a long term view of sending people to Mars.

The Moon's No#1 Tourist
Attraction: The Big Cheese!

As excited as I am for NASA once again setting its sights on manned missions to the moon, I'm equally delighted to hear they're still in the business of sending weird stuff into space (I'm still hopeful that one day they'll build a 'big cheese' on the moon).

Mashable's Elisha Sauers wrote about all The unusual things NASA's moon-bound spaceship is carrying which includes:

A Snoopy Doll along with one of Schulz's pen nibs, wrapped in a space-themed comic strip, and 245 silver snoopy pins.
A small Moon rock from Apollo 11 that also was aboard the final space shuttle flight, marking the significance of the return of a spacecraft built for humans to the Moon.
An Artemis figurine.
Tree seeds.
Test dummies - NASA's three mannequins; Cmdr. Moonikin Campos, Helga, and Zohar will fill Orion's seats. (The Orion is the actual capsule craft the Artemis I rocket will launch into space).
Lego mini figures - Kate, Kyle, Julia, and Sebastian.
A bolt from one of Apollo 11’s F-1 engines.

Many of the items going into space are mementos from various organisations collaborating with NASA, that will be returned to them either for further scientific study or will be items they can distribute as something that has actually been to space.

Read Elisa's article for details on why each of the above articles are making the flight. To learn more about the mission, including images and video visit NASA's site.

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