A plush toy designed by a young student from Mountain View, California, will ride aboard NASA’s Artemis II spacecraft as the crew’s zero-gravity indicator, the agency confirmed on March 27, 2026. Called “Rise,

When NASA’s Artemis II crew needed a small, lightweight companion to serve as the zero-gravity indicator on its mission to orbit the Moon, it turned to an Australian crowdsourcing marketplace.

The crew is joined by "Rise," a small stuffed figure that will serve as the mission's zero-gravity indicator — a time-honored spaceflight tradition in which a small, lightweight object is released at the moment of weightlessness to signal the crew's arrival in space.

A Bay Area second grader designed a zero gravity indicator - which let astronauts know when they reached weightlessness - in the form of a plushie. It was taken aboard the Artemis II.

The clips could be a marketing stunt for Apple's ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations, and we might see the company flex its space ties at WWDC 2026.

A second-grade student from California has designed the mascot that will join NASA's Artemis II mission to the moon -- known as the zero gravity indicator.