Shaun, the protagonist of the “Shaun, the Sheep” series, will go to the moon through the Artemis program with NASA. Launch scheduled for August 23, 2022.
From what was made official by the ESA portal, the character most loved by children and also by adults will go on a mission to the Moon . He has a rightful place in the Artemis I mission with a launch scheduled for August 23, 2022. David Parker, ESA’s Director for Human and Robotic Exploration, made the announcement of the initiative. Artemis is the first flight of NASA ‘s Orion spacecraft . An important step towards the return to the moon.
The peculiarity of the mission is that the crew will not be human, but with Shaun. It is a character known to the little ones for the series “Shaun, the Sheep” . Shaun the sheep will accompany Artemis I’s dummy as he flies over the moon. The mission will go 70,000 kilometers beyond the moon. The checks will clearly be carried out from Earth. The Orion spacecraft will depart from the Kennedy Space Center’s Space Launch System in Florida. Inside, then, the iconic cartoon sheep-puppet. Shaun’s training was documented on the ESA website. A way to bring the little ones closer to the topic of space.
This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA and we are very happy that he was selected for the mission. And while it might be a small step for a human, it’s a giant leap for all sheep.
David Parker, ESA’s Director for Human and Robotic Exploration
The mission with Shaun on board will be a way to open subsequent missions with the aim of returning humans to the lunar surface. The capsule will record important information for subsequent human flights. Shaun was trained for astronauts and to familiarize himself with the Orion spacecraft. All this through trips to various locations in Europe and America and to study different aspects of the mission.
- The sheep Shaun ‘astronaut’ for the return to the Moon (ansa.it)
