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SpaceX has a new crewmember, although it's anything but human: it's a $ 20 plush planet that astronauts call "Little Earth" or "Earth".
Last Saturday, SpaceX launched its new Crew Dragon spacecraft designed for NASA astronauts in the direction of the International Space Station (ISS), where the vehicle docked on 3 March.
No humans took part in the historic trade mission called Demo-1 – only a mannequin called Ripley, 100 kg of cargo, and the stuffed toy Earth. However, NASA called the mission "absolutely critical" in its efforts to replace the Space Shuttle (which retired in July 2011).
NASA's director, Jim Bridenstine, has even hailed this mission as "the dawn of a new era for US space flight" after Crew Dragon's return to Earth on Friday. In the coming months, SpaceX and NASA will analyze the data collected during the flight to prepare Crew Dragon for its first human passengers: NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.
Meanwhile, three members of Expedition 58 crew residing aboard the space station – NASA's astronaut Anne McClain, astronaut of the Canadian Space Agency David Saint-Jacques and cosmonaut Roscosmos Oleg Kononenko – adopted "little Earthy" as an unofficial rookie during their training.
"He'll welcome us aboard, probably, when we get there," Behnken said Friday during a NASA TV show.
"I think that Anne, David and Oleg have well trained, and I hope that he will be able to guide us through the emergency file and that he is a member. full of the station team by the time we get there. "
This is what Earthy did and when he could come back …
The SpaceX Demo-1 mission was designed to show NASA that its Crew Dragon spacecraft is safe for astronauts in flight.
SpaceX therefore put 400 pounds of cargo inside and placed a crash test dummy in one of the vehicle's seats. The model was named "Ripley" after the main character of the science fiction film series "Alien".
(Elon Musk / SpaceX via Twitter)
But apparently on a whim, Elon Musk also attached an Earth toy (manufactured by Celestial Buddies) to another seat.
(SpaceX / NASA TV)
"Super high tech zero-g indicator just before launch!" Musk tweeted, referring to the fact that the toy would float.
SpaceX then launched Crew Dragon before dawn on March 2, 2019.
A day later, he joined the International Space Station and docked at the laboratory in the orbit of the size of a football field.
The three members of the crew of Expedition 58 were waiting.
Anne McClain, NASA astronaut, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, and astronaut David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency. (NASA)
The crew opened the hatch and emptied the cargo, greeting the arrival of SpaceX as being historic. McClain immediately took to the small land.
(NASA TV)
Soon, McClain started having fun with the doll. "Yes buddy, it's your Mother Earth, is not she beautiful?" she said in a tweet with this photo.
"Earth will learn a lot during its busy week on @Space_Station.Today, it has kept me company as we check the size of our costume to account for the growth of space (I'm 2 inches taller than when I was started!), "tweeted McClain.
"The second day of Earth on @Space_Station started early, but he was happy to learn that even in the space, the day starts with coffee," McClain wrote on Tuesday.
"Then it was the practice of emergency mask with @Astro_DavidS [Saint-Jacques]"If there is an (improbable) leakage of ammonia, we only have a few seconds to protect ourselves."
Earthy has quickly become a way to spice up routine maintenance in orbit. "Second busy day for Earth on @Space_Station – removal of a constituent parser with @Astro_DavidS," said McClain.
McClain also enlisted Earthy in what she called "plumbing work". This selfie was taken while the two of them were floating in front of the cogs of the ISS toilet.
"Preventive maintenance allows us to keep flying!" He also learned how schedules allow us to stay in sync with the ground [control] McClain added, "What should he do tomorrow?"
"The third day of the Earth began with the pumping of blood (plasma?)!" McClain tweeted Wednesday after doing some exercise.
"First of all, the treadmill, then the weights – he even took me off the ground," she added.
"It's important to exercise daily, not only for our muscles, but also to protect our bones from microgravity density loss," she said.
"The 3rd day of the Earth was busy! Briefings on how we handle garbage and how to manipulate the @csa_asc Canadarm2 controls," tweeted McClain.
"No, you can not take it for a ride!" she added.
After that: "A lesson on Soyuz's descent with @Astro_DavidS (our lifeboat to get home in case of evacuation, we have to keep our skills up to the skill level)," said McClain.
"I visited the Soyuz today.Various spacecraft, same laws of physics!" Saint-Jacques tweeted in the name of Earthy.
Saint-Jacques was even sitting in the sloping seat of the Russian spacecraft.
At the end of a long day of work, the astronauts even organized a dinner for Earthy. "A favorite of the crew, group dinner!" McClain tweeted. "The candlelit dinner was also attended by Paxi, from @esa [the European Space Agency]. "
When the time came to close the Crew Dragon hatch so that he could go home, it became apparent that the ISS team had kidnapped Little Earthy and kept the toy on the ISS.
(NASA TV)
Behnken and SpaceX did not expect the crew to fly Earthy. Lee Rosen, SpaceX's vice president for mission and launch operations, reportedly told Behnken: "Hey, we're going to need to get back from Earthy."
(NASA)
Behnken and Hurley are due to visit the Crew Dragon Space Station in July, the first mission of SpaceX's crewed company.
(NASA)
But that assumes that Demo-1's safety analysis is a success and that an upcoming (and unarmed) flight evacuation test is going well.
(SpaceX)
Behnken – a veteran of spaceflight twice – said that once he'd send Crew Dragon aboard the ISS, he was eager to see the sunrise and sunset from the day before. # 39; space. "They are simply remarkable in orbit," he said. "You can not get it elsewhere."
(NASA)
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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