A new Artemis 2 photo shared on April 9, 2026 showed astronaut Christina Koch inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft. In the picture, a small mascot floats nearby. Astronauts call it a “zero-gravity indicator.”
A zero-gravity indicator is an easy way to tell when the crew is experiencing microgravity—the floaty feeling of space. When the mascot drifts instead of dropping, it shows the spacecraft is in that microgravity environment.
The extra-cool detail is that NASA chose the mascot design from a contest with thousands of kid entries. That means students didn’t just watch a space mission from far away—they helped add creativity to it.
Photos like this make space exploration feel more human: real people working together, and simple objects that explain big science ideas. If you’re curious, you can think like a scientist here by asking, “What does this floating object tell us about the conditions inside the spacecraft?”
A zero-gravity indicator is an easy way to tell when the crew is experiencing microgravity—the floaty feeling of space. When the mascot drifts instead of dropping, it shows the spacecraft is in that microgravity environment.
The extra-cool detail is that NASA chose the mascot design from a contest with thousands of kid entries. That means students didn’t just watch a space mission from far away—they helped add creativity to it.
Photos like this make space exploration feel more human: real people working together, and simple objects that explain big science ideas. If you’re curious, you can think like a scientist here by asking, “What does this floating object tell us about the conditions inside the spacecraft?”