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

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

Commander Moonikin Campos’ purpose

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

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

Why send the manikin?

When asked about the necessity of the manikin instead of using Apollo 13 mission data, NASA said that the circumstances that drove their designs are different than the ones that drive Orion design. Moreover, they explained that they can simulate a lot of these environments with the data collected, not only from Apollo, but also from Shuttle, space station, and other non-human spaceflight programs, but there's no substitute for flight data. Apollo 13 mission was conducted in 1970 with an aim to land humans on the moon but turned unsuccessful following an explosion in the Apollo 13 Service Module's oxygen tank.

What inspired the name?

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

(Image: Twitter/@NASA)