NASA prepares 'moonikin' for spaceflight aboard 1st Artemis mission - Livescience.com

NASA has released an amusing photo of a spacesuit-donned test dummy being put through its paces in a launch simulator at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The dummy, which NASA affectionately dubbed "moonikin," will be the first passenger aboard the new Orion spacecraft during the first uncrewed Artemis I mission, expected later this year.

The dummy will help scientists understand the forces that real astronauts will experience during the launch of the new Space Launch System (SLS) — the most powerful rocket ever built — in following missions.

During the actual launch of Artemis I, the dummy will sit in the commander's chair of the Orion module and will wear a first-generation Orion Crew Survival System suit — the spacesuit astronauts will wear during launch, entry and other dynamic phases of their missions.

NASA is currently holding an online competition in which members of the public can help name the astronaut model by voting for their favorite names in a bracketing system.

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