Before the planned NASA moon mission – crew in Cape Canaveral

The start of the mission, which will fly people close to the moon for the first time in more than half a century, is currently scheduled for April 1st. There will then be further starting options until April 6th. NASA originally planned to launch “Artemis 2” at the beginning of February, then in March. Numerous technical problems emerged during tests that caused postponements.

The “Artemis 2” mission, which is scheduled to last around ten days, will see Koch, Glover, Wiseman and Hansen fly around the moon. The last time US astronauts were on the moon was in 1972.

Zero gravity mascot not from Germany

However, a mascot designed in Germany did not make it on board for the “Artemis 2” mission. The crew chose a design called “Rise” by a student from California as a zero-gravity mascot, said astronaut Wiseman. “Rise” consists of a kind of moon with a cap on which the Earth can be seen.

A zero-gravity mascot is an object that begins to float in a spaceship as soon as weightlessness sets in after launch – thus visually demonstrating the new state. There were around 2,600 submissions in a NASA design competition for the “Artemis 2” mascot. A design by the Italian Giulia Bona, who lives in Berlin, also made it into the 25 finalists, but it was ultimately not selected.

The zero-gravity soft toy “Rise” that has now been selected also contains a memory card with thousands of names – sent in over the past few months by people from all over the world who want to fly around the moon at least as a name on a memory card.