NASA will blast off a manikin to Moon before actual human astronauts, here's why

Amplifying excitement for upcoming Artemis moon mission, NASA has w anunced that it will send a manikin to Moon and bring it back before actually sending humans. Named Commander Moonikin Campos, dummy will be strapped to Orion craft to gar crucial data during flight that will protect NASA astronauts. This data is deemed necessary as humans haven’t visited moon since 1969. 

Commander Moonikin Campos’ purpose

In a live Reddit Q+A, NASA explained that only Commander Moonikin Campos will board Orion craft under Artemis 1 mission as it will be uncrewed. ncy said that this unique passenger will be used to measure acceleration, vibration, and radiation data during mission. y said that data from Moonikin’s experience will help NASA protect astronauts who will actually be sent to Moon in Artemis 2. 

As per NASA, Artemis 1 will be an important step in NASA’s goal to land first woman and first person of colour on Moon and establish long-term lunar exploration. Besides, this mission will be first flight test of integrated Orion craft and Launch System rocket.

Why send manikin?

When asked about necessity of manikin instead of using Apollo 13 mission data, NASA said that circumstances that drove ir designs are different than ones that drive Orion design. Moreover, y explained that y can simulate a lot of se environments with data collected, t only from Apollo, but also from Shuttle, station, and or n-human flight programs, but re's substitute for flight data. Apollo 13 mission was conducted in 1970 with an aim to land humans on moon but turned unsuccessful following an explosion in Apollo 13 Service Module's oxygen tank.

What inspired name?

Answering what was inspiration for manikin’s name, NASA said it is a tribute Arturo Campos, who was a key player in safely bringing Apollo 13 mission back to Earth. y revealed that it was Arturo who developed a procedure to power malfunctioned module which gave craft eugh time to splash down in ocean before any unfortunate happening and thus saved astronauts. 

(Im: Twitter/@NASA)