A 2nd grader designed an adorable mascot for NASA’s Artemis II mission

'Rise' is a baseball hat-wearing plushie that will let the four-person crew know when they have officially hit zero gravity. The post A 2nd grader designed an adorable mascot for NASA’s Artemis II mission appeared first on Popular Science .

6 April 2026 at 06:23 pm

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A 2nd grader designed an adorable mascot for NASA’s Artemis II mission, a historic journey that will mark the first time in decades that astronauts will leave Earth’s orbit and circle the moon. The mascot, named “Rise,” is a tiny plush doll wearing a baseball hat, designed to serve as a zero gravity indicator for the four-person crew. The idea for Rise came from Lucas Ye, a second-grader from Mountain View, California, who submitted his creation as part of NASA’s Moon Mascot contest.

The Artemis II mission, set to launch in August 2025, is a significant milestone in space exploration. It will carry astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Marcos Pontes, and Jeanette Epps on a journey around the moon, symbolizing a return to the Apollo program era. During a recent visit to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, mission commander Reid Wiseman revealed the mission’s adorable zero gravity indicator, designed to help the crew celebrate their transition into zero gravity.

Rise was inspired by the iconic Earthrise moment from the Apollo 8 mission, which captured the first image of Earth from space. The plush doll is not only cute but also serves a practical purpose. A zero gravity indicator is a small, untethered object that typically rides with a crew to visually indicate when they have entered space. These indicators have become an international staple of spacefaring, with examples ranging from plushies of R2-D2 and Albert Einstein to various dinosaurs.

The tradition of using small dolls or mascots during space missions dates back to 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. He brought a small doll with him on the Vostok I journey to mark the moment he reached microgravity. Since then, zero gravity indicators have been included in numerous missions, including the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which carried a Snoopy plush.

NASA’s Moon Mascot contest, which attracted over 2,600 submissions from more than 50 countries, aimed to find a mascot that would inspire and represent the mission’s goals. The Artemis II crew narrowed down the selections to 25 finalists before selecting the top five contenders. These included “Big Steps of Little Octopus” by Anzhelika Iudakova of Finland, “Corey the Explorer” by Daniela Colina of Peru, “Creation Mythos” by Johanna Beck of McPherson, Kansas, and “Lepus the Moon Bunny” by an anonymous artist.

Ultimately, Lucas Ye’s Rise was chosen as the perfect symbol for the Artemis II mission. The plush doll not only adds a touch of whimsy and inspiration to the crew’s journey but also serves as a reminder of the importance of space exploration and the future it holds for humanity. As the Artemis II mission prepares for its historic launch, Rise will be there to celebrate the crew’s transition into zero gravity, symbolizing a new chapter in space exploration.

Source: Popular Science

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