"What Courage! What Fortitude!"

[krpalmer]

Artemis I spent longer coasting out to the moon than the three days familiar enough from the 1960s, but I supposed this had something to do with the special distant retrograde orbit it’s going to enter and recalled more recent moon probes had taken their own time getting there. During the outward voyage I did catch up on some archived video, and noticed a press conference where someone mentioned the stuffed Snoopy placed in the capsule to float around in free-fall had been spotted but it would take a little while for the picture of that to be released. That kept me checking an online photo album. When a new picture of the capsule interior did show up I managed to spot the orange-suited Snoopy without too much trouble, noting how he didn’t have a bubble helmet on like other pieces of merchandising I’ve seen but wondering if there’d been concern that plastic might break. Then, though, I went back to the previous in-capsule picture and managed to spot the doll in somewhat worse lighting but about the same place.

Just as I was getting to work this morning Artemis ignited its rocket engine on our far side of the moon to begin entering its orbit; I was able to find an official report of its safe emergence from behind the moon. Further reports did happen to mention the Snoopy doll; just as I’d been wondering about the other stuffed figure on board I saw an explanation Shaun the sheep is strapped in.