How to Know You’re in Space: Zero Gravity Indicators

Have you ever wanted to design something that could fly around the Moon? This is your opportunity. The Artemis II astronauts will use a zero gravity indicator during their mission to demonstrate when their Orion spacecraft has reached microgravity. This plushie needs to be soft, small, and importantly, remind us of home. The Moon Mascot contest challenges people of all ages from all over the world to submit a design to be made by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab and flown aboard Artemis II. To submit a design for the contest, visit: freelancer.com/moon-mascot To learn more about the Artemis II mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/ Credit: NASA Writer: Erika Peters Editor: Phil Sexton Producers: Rad Sinyak, Erika Peters

What is said in the film

Hey everyone, I'm Reid Wiseman, a crew member on Artemis II. And I'm Christina Koch, another crew member on Artemis II. Today we're going to be talking about how you know you're in space. The best way to know that is you're floating and so is everything around you. What is a zero-g indicator usually?

Fits in the palm of your hand. It's fairly lightweight. Stuffed animals are very common. They can't be dangerous in space. They don't have sharp edges.

It's not a scientific instrument, but it does tell everybody who's watching where everything else might be strapped in. We really are in space. There is their zero-g indicator. Loved hearing the crew's description of who chose this animal and everything that it means to their mission. I brought my zero-g indicator.

This is Giraffiti. My mom gave this to my firstborn daughter, and then that was given to me by my kids to fly on the Soyuz with us. We brought a symbol of our class name, which is the eight balls, because there are eight people in the class of 2013. And so we were named the eight balls by actually your class. This is a stuffed animal on a string, and we generally hang it from the upper part of our spacecraft so that it's just dangling in the middle of our spaceship.

When I was in the Soyuz, I looked at Giraffiti often, because it's a great instrument for how is your vehicle handling. You can tell yaw pitch and roll. You can tell dynamics. You can tell when the engines are firing and when they aren't firing. I see you have yours on a string.

Yes, the stretchy string is essential. Not only does it float after you get to microgravity when you're in those high g situations, it extends. And so you actually can see how high and how many g's you’re pulling by how far this moves down. And so it turns out that a very simple stuffed animal on a string can become your primary flight instrument, in a thing as complicated as a spaceship. The thing I love about the zero-g indicator is this human element.

It reminds us why we’re there, how we got there, the people that supported us along the way, and that is also what you want when you first get to space, because you are in a completely foreign environment. But that thing links you back. It was the first toy that my eight year old ever got. It's a great keepsake and I love having him up here. Both of our sons were just super excited to see the toy that they had selected go on the mission with us.

This is our little buddy, the Earth that keeps us company. He kind of floats around during the day and follows us in our activities, and learns what it's like to to be in space. We've always talked about as a crew, what means the most to us about this mission? And we say that it's bringing everyone along with us for the ride. So I think it'd be really cool if we involve the public in our zero-g indicator choice.

My name is Paula Cain. I'm Cody Haines, I'm Erin Draper. We are here at Goddard Space Flight Center. We design and make multi installation layer blankets that go onto space hardware to regulate the temperature of the hardware and electronics. Our different projects will range from telescopes for some of the bigger ones.

Or it'll be something like a smaller satellite. It's very exciting supporting the contest. It's inspiring many different people to contribute creative ideas. It's always been cool to think that something that you've worked on has flown and gone into space. Whoever our contest winner is, once I have the design in front of me, I will literally draw out the, design of the doll on this melinex material, and then I'll shape and form it to whatever it needs to be.

Then we'll start cutting out. We will start sewing it. There's going to be some type of tether on it so it doesn't go floating away. So we're going to work on all that. One thing I think is really interesting is that I found out that this is global.

So this person can be from anywhere, and that they're designing this for, you know, NASA. And I think that's really cool and exciting. I don't think there's a better way to get people interested, to get people feeling like they're a part of this mission, to have a part of them on this. Absolutely. And what better way to fly a mission around the moon than to invite the public inside the Orion spacecraft with us and ask for your help in designing our zero-g indicator?

And really, the question is, what would you send to the Moon? What would you want to remind you of your home when you're that far away? All you need is your idea for a zero-g indicator. You do not have to fabricate this. We have an amazingly talented group at the Goddard Space Flight Center who will be doing the hard work.

It's just the idea that we are after. We want you to go ahead and start thinking about this. Get out a pencil, design, start to draw. Get out your stylus. Make up a design that we can bring around the Moon with us.

And you never know. We might be reminded of exactly you on our mission.

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