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NASA's Artemis II Mission Completes Lunar Orbit with Plush Moon Mascot and Crew Milestones
NASA's Artemis II mission, featuring four astronauts and a plush moon mascot named Rise, has successfully orbited the Moon, marking the first crewed lunar journey since 1972. The crew conducted tests of the Orion spacecraft's systems during the 10-day flight. Additional events included naming a lunar crater and receiving a call from former President Trump.
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NASA's Artemis II mission concluded with the Orion spacecraft splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening. The mission carried four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency—on a 10-day journey around the Moon. This was the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The crew tested the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System, evaluating life-support, navigation, and communication systems. Artemis II served as a test flight without a lunar landing, preparing for future missions to return humans to the Moon's surface. The mission launched about a week prior to the social media introduction of the mascot.
A plush moon named Rise joined the crew as the mission's zero-gravity indicator, floating freely to signal weightlessness.
Rise was designed by California student Lucas Ye, selected from over 2,600 submissions in NASA's Moon Mascot contest. The crew chose Rise as their "fifth passenger," with its design inspired by the 1968 Apollo 8 "Earthrise" photograph. Rise includes a microSD card containing millions of names from NASA's "Fly Your Name" program.
NASA introduced Rise via social media posts from the Artemis account, which temporarily changed its profile picture to the plush on Wednesday.
“Hi! I’m Rise! About a week ago, I launched aboard the Artemis II mission with four of my besties.”
m. Eastern time while traveling around the far side of the Moon. The crew set a new distance record during the lunar flyby on the sixth day of the journey. Ahead of the flyby on Monday, the astronauts celebrated Hansen's first spaceflight and received a message from Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke.
