The crew of four astronauts launching on SpaceX鈥檚 Crew Dragon capsule had a surprise stowaway on board 鈥� 鈥淭he Child鈥� from Disney鈥檚 new show The Mandalorian.
It鈥檚 a long tradition in spaceflight to bring aboard a small toy or plush doll in the capsule. Astronauts keep an eye on it to watch when it starts floating 鈥� indicating the moment they鈥檝e reached space and experience weightlessness.
They鈥檙e called zero-g indicators. The crew of SpaceX鈥檚 DM-2 mission back in May brought a dinosaur toy picked out by the children of crewmates Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.
The identity of the Crew-1 zero-g indicator was kept secret until SpaceX started beaming back video from inside the capsule. The Child, often referred to as Baby Yoda, could be seen floating through the cabin as the crew began prepping for its 27 hour trip to the International Space Station.
Baby Yoda is the Crew-1 astronauts鈥� zero gravity indicator
鈥� Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz)
The crew, including Baby Yoda, will dock with the ISS at 11 p.m. EST and spend about six months onboard the orbiting outpost. It鈥檚 unclear if Baby Yoda will come back home at the end of the mission or spend additional time onboard the station.
Crew-1 is SpaceX鈥檚 first operational mission for NASA鈥檚 Commercial Crew program. NASA astroanuts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday night from Kennedy Space Center.
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