JAKARTA – The European Space Agency (ESA) with Animation Studio Aardman announced that ‘specially trained astronaut’ Shaun the Sheep will be assigned to the Artemis I mission to the Moon.
Shaun, the sheep character in Aardman’s animated film, will make the first flight on NASA’s Orion spacecraft with ESA’s European Services Module, which is planned to circle the Moon and return to Earth.
This mission will basically carry no human crew at all, instead it will be controlled completely from Earth. So it can be said that Shaun will be the only passenger on the flight.
“This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA. We are very pleased he was selected for the mission and we understand that, while it may be a small step for humans, it is a big leap for sheep,” said ESA’s Director of Human Exploration and Robot Dr David Parker, in the caption on the Aardman page.
NASA said Artemis 1 could be launched as early as August 23, where NASA’s Orion spacecraft with ESA’s European Services Module is planned to be launched by the Space Launch System from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States.
On its way, the spacecraft will first enter low-Earth orbit, before then an upper-stage rocket fires to take it into translunar orbit.
After that the top of the rocket or capsule will fly past the Moon, using the moon’s gravity to gain speed and propel itself 70,000 km beyond the Moon, or nearly half a million km from Earth – further than any human, or sheep, has ever traveled in history.
If all goes according to plan, the capsule will return to Earth after spending 39 to 42 days in space.
Neither Aardman, ESA, nor NASA explained further about Shaun’s important role in the flight. However it is likely that Shaun’s doll will serve as a zero-g (gravity) indicator.
Because since Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin brought a small doll with him on the first human space flight in 1961, it has become a tradition for space crews to carry a toy or doll on every flight mission.
Even some unmanned flights have also carried out the tradition. Like last May, when the Boeing Starliner capsule brought the Jebediah Kerman character doll to the International Space Station.
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