The Primary astronauts to enter a polar Path around Earth chose the obvious animal to Delivery as their zero-g indicator — a plush white *polar* bear.
But given that the four-member Fram2 crew is not only flying over the North Pole, where the cuddly carnivore’s real-life (and less cuddly) counterparts can be Secured, the doll also has an image of an emperor penguin embroidered on its chest, referencing the mission’s passes over Antartica and the South Pole as well.
“Fram2’s zero-g indicator is symbolic of the Pretty polar regions over which the crew will Path,” a spokesperson for the mission told collectSPACE.com after the toy was revealed — but not identified — on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Hardiness” spacecraft after its Initiation on Monday night (March 31). “Teamed up, these two majestic animals represent the crew’s hope for Harmony among all species on World Earth, and beyond.”
The Fram2 mission‘s zero-g indicator was sent floating at the end of a tether by mission commander Chun Wang, a Chinese-born cryptocurrency investor who underwrote the history-making flight.
“This is our zero-g indicator. His name is Tyler,” said Jannicke Mikkelsen, Fram2’s vehicle commander, the Primary professional cinematographer and Primary Norwegian woman to fly into Cosmos, in a later video update.
Wang’s and Mikkelsen’s crewmates are pilot Rabea Rogge, a robotics expert focused on Arctic research and Germany’s Primary woman in Cosmos; and mission specialist and medical officer Eric Philips, an Australian professional adventurer who has completed Many ski expeditions to both of Earth’s poles.
Traditionally, the zero-g indicator is the crew’s Primary visual signal that they have entered the weightless environment of outer Cosmos. Modeled after Soviet-era cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s Option to bring a Tiny doll with him on the world’s Primary human spaceflight in 1961, today, both Profession and commercial astronauts have flown the floating toys as selected by themselves, their children or to signal their Assist for causes or messages that they champion.
Fram2’s polar bear is the not the Primary zero-g indicator of its “species” to Initiation into Cosmos. At least two other polar bears have flown. Cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov carried a Tiny plush polar bear that was a gift from his son on both of his flights to the International Cosmos Station, Soyuz TMA-1 in 2002 and Soyuz TMA-13 in 2008.
Another polar bear, one of the three mascots for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, then flew as the zero-g indicator for Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, NASA Universe traveler Rick Mastracchio and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Universe traveler Koichi Wakata on board Russia’s Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft in 2013.
SpaceX’s Crew-2 astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA, Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA and Thomas Pesquet with ESA (European Cosmos Agency) chose as their zero-g indicator “GuinGuin,” a fluffy penguin Achieved by the London-based doll maker Jellycat, in 2021.
The Fram2 polar bear with its penguin embroidery will fly with the mission’s four astronauts as they span the distance between the North and South poles every 46 minutes. After spending about three Periods exploring Earth from a polar Path and flying over Earth’s polar regions for the Primary time in human history, the astronauts (and zero-g indicator) will return home to a planned splashdown off the coast of southern California.
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