When Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, it had a particularly cute member of the crew aboard — “Rise,” a stuffed toy created by an 8-year-old California boy that will signal to the astronauts when they reach weightlessness.
Lucas Yeh of Mountain View won an international competition to design a toy that would start floating in a rocket when the crew was no longer under the influence of gravity.
Asked by a NASA representative on Wednesday how he felt to learn his creation was going to space, the second-grader said he was “really, really, really, really, really, really, really surprised and very happy.”
The tradition of bringing along a plush toy “zero gravity indicator” dates back to Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1 mission in 1961 and includes a Snoopy on Artemis I and a Baby Yoda on SpaceX Crew-1.
Rise was selected from approximately 2,600 entries from more than 50 countries in a competition organized by global crowdsourcing marketplace Freelancer. As a prize, Lucas was given the opportunity to travel with his family to Wednesday’s launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Their moon mascot was inspired by the toy “Earthrise” photo Taken during the Apollo 8 mission and featuring a round, squishy moon wearing a baseball cap with planet Earth on top and stars and galaxies on the side.
Lucas works on his design for a “zero gravity indicator”. This toy, named Rise, is on Artemis II.
(Freelancer/NASA)
The back of the hat features Neil Armstrong’s footprint from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, while the constellation Orion on the rim represents the Artemis II mission, Lucas explained in a video shared by the freelancer after being announced as a finalist.
“I like space, I like rockets, I like NASA, I like the solar system, I like studying about space,” he said with a big smile on his face.
The crew of Artemis II, including the commander. Reed Wiseman was part of the judging panel that selected Lucas’ design from a shortlist of finalists. Other top-ranking entries came from students from Finland, Peru, Kansas and Canada.
NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket lifted off at 3:35 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 10-day Artemis II mission.
The crew, including Rise, is expected to reach the moon on Monday morning. If all goes according to plan, the ship will make a flyby of the moon, causing it to temporarily lose signal with NASA on the far side. The crew capsule is set to touch down from San Diego around 5 p.m. Pacific time on April 10.
Times staff writer Noah Haggerty contributed to this report.
