Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Space Launch System (SLS) Credit: NASA/MSFC

The “crew” of the Artemis 1 mission to the Moon.
Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin/DLR

Riding atop the maiden voyage of the NASA Space Launch System, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft, if lofted on August 29^th, would result in a mission duration of approximately 42 days, with a targeted Orion splashdown on October 10^th.

The upcoming Artemis 1 flight is a haven for dummies – onboard “phantom” passengers in the Orion capsule will gather crucial data to help protect the first human astronauts of Artemis II, the first mission in more than 50 years that will send crew around the Moon.

Commander Moonikin Campos.
Credit: NASA/KSC

Commander Moonikin Campos is a male-bodied manikin previously used in Orion vibration tests. Campos will occupy the commander’s seat inside and wear an Orion Crew Survival System suit– the same spacesuit that Artemis astronauts will use during launch, entry, and other dynamic phases of their missions.

Campos will be equipped with two radiation sensors and have additional sensors under its headrest and behind its seat to record acceleration and vibration data throughout the mission.

The radiation measuring manikin Helga in individual parts.
Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Measurement sensors

Joining Commander Moonikin Campos are two dummy torsos: “Zohar” and “Helga” representing the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE), led by the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Germany.

Zohar will fly to the Moon with a protective vest

Zohar, contributed by the Israel Space Agency, will fly to the Moon with a protective vest (AstroRad) made by the Israeli company StemRad, while Helga will fly without any protection.

A total of more than 6,000 passive measurement sensors are placed both on the surface of and inside the ‘phantoms’. After the flight around the Moon, the radiation values measured by both models will be compared in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the AstroRad protective vest.

DLR radiation biologist, Thomas Berger with the dummies in the Orion capsule during a “fit check” of Helga and Zohar.
Credit: DLR

Credit: NASA

For detailed information on the Artemis 1 mission, go to this NASA press kit at:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i-press-kit/