In a tweet posted on July 27, NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team announced that Campos has been successfully installed in the Orion Capsule — which sits atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis 1 mission around the Moon. Liftoff is currently targeting August 29th.
Moonkin Campos — named after Arturo Campus, an electrical engineer who was a key player in bringing the Apollo 13 mission safely back to Earth — is a human-sized test dummy now wedged into the commander’s chair at the head of the capsule.
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
During the mission, Moonkin will provide NASA scientists with vital data about what future human crew members may encounter during the flight. Artemis 1 is NASA’s first test launch of the Space Launch System giant vehicle and an unmanned test flight to the Moon for NASA’s Artemis program. Data from Moonikin will help NASA prepare the astronauts who will fly around the moon for the Artemis 2 mission in 2024 and the Artemis 3 astronauts who will eventually land on the moon.
Commander Monnequin Campos was installed at NASA_Orion prior to the launch of #Artemis I. Named after Arturo Campos, the man who was instrumental in saving the Apollo 13 crew, it will measure the vibrations and accelerations that future NASAArtemis astronauts will experience. pic.twitter.com/jBJNYps1hl27 July 2022
It will measure vibrations and acceleration in the future NASA Artemis astronauts will test “NASA’s Earth Exploration Systems chirp (Opens in a new tab).
These biometrics will be collected by two sensors placed behind the commander’s seat and under the headrest that will record the acceleration and vibrations generated during the mission to the moon. Campo is also equipped with two radiation sensors to measure exposure.
In addition to wearing important sensory organs, Campos wears the latest in flight clothing – the first-generation Orion Crew Survival System spacesuit. The same orange pressure suit worn by astronauts during launches and future re-entry operations.
Campos will not be alone during the Artemis 1 mission and will be accompanied by two “passengers” aboard a mannequin – Helga and Zohar – who will be installed aboard Orion in the coming weeks. These two limbless dummy mannequins are part of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE), which will record data about radiation levels during a mission to the moon.
The Mannequin Trio is set to climb beyond Earth’s atmosphere And heading to the moon as part of the Artemis 1 mission, which is scheduled to launch on August 29.
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