SpaceX Nasa launch: Why was a Ty Flippable dinosaur toy aboard the Crew Dragon?

Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company in the world to launch a rocket carrying humans into space on May 30, 2020. Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken, two veteran NASA astronauts boarded SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Capsule. The launch commenced at 3:22 EST and the astronauts embarked on a landmark 19-hour journey towards the ISS. But many viewers noticed that there was an extra passenger on board in the SpaceX-NASA launch, a tiny sequinned stuffed dinosaur plush toy.

During the live broadcast of the SpaceX-NASA launch and journey ahead, the toy was spotted floating around in the capsule. The video emerged on Twitter and many users have been sharing it since then. The toy dinosaur on the SpaceX Dragon capsule became an instant hit among netizens.

The toy was later identified as a Ty Flippable Tremor Dinosaur. "Was that a that a sequin stuffed dinosaur I just saw floating by the camera?" one user wrote, adding "It was so unexpected. I laughed so hard.”

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Why was the Ty Flippable dinosaur toy on board in the SpaceX-NASA launch?

According to a technology website, the purpose of the dinosaur toy was to act as a 'zero-g indicator'. Similar toys have been flown with astronauts for years now. When these toys begin floating, it signals that the crew members have reached zero gravity. 

This time the Ty dinosaur tremor toy was chosen to accompany the astronauts for a special reason. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have a son each, and in one of the videos on NASA's YouTube channel, they said that both their boys are dinosaur enthusiasts. The boys put all their dinosaur toys together before the launch and finally, a sparkly Apatosaurus was chosen to accompany their fathers into space. 

The astronauts have expressed that their sons would be excited to see their dino toy floating around in zero gravity. In 2013, Karen Nyberg, astronaut Hurley’s wife had sewn a stuffed dinosaur for her son while she was still aboard the ISS and had sent him photos of the floating toy. This could be a reason for choosing the dinosaur. During a launch in 2019, Elon Musk had put an Earth-shaped plush toy on a test flight of Crew Dragon, he called it a "super high tech zero-g indicator”.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley entered the International Space Station on Sunday, May 31, 2020. They were welcomed by their fellow US astronaut Chris Cassidy, as well as cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. They wore their signature blue jumpsuits on the space station while Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley wore navy blue t-shirts with beige trousers underneath their spacesuits during their travel.

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