Meet the dinosaur hitching a ride to space with U.S. astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Two American astronauts headed for the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday have some company during their flight: a stuffed dinosaur.
The adorable stuffed animal covered in colorful sequins was spotted riding shotgun during the historic manned mission that successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This marks the first time U.S. astronauts have been launched into space from American soil since the end of the space program in 2011.
As NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken headed for the ISS, the plush dinosaur was seen floating around in the spacecraft. The toy quickly went viral on social media.
According to geophysicist Mika McKinnon, the stuffed animal is a TY Flippables Tremor Dinosaur.
Fortunately, if you want to get your hands on one, SpaceX is selling them for $25. You can buy your own 'Demo-2 Dinosaur Plush' HERE.
This isn't the first time a stuffed animal has been to orbit.
According to The Verge, when the stuffed toy starts floating, it indicates to the strapped-in astronauts that they’ve reached zero-g and are experiencing weightlessness.
You may remember that a plush Earth flew on the unmanned test flight of Crew Dragon back in March 2019 to the ISS. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted a picture of the toy just before launch calling it a "super high tech zero-g indicator."
Behnken reportedly said last year that he expected Earthy to be aboard with him and Hurley.
“Hopefully he can walk us through the emergency brief and he’s a full-fledged station crew member by the time that we get there,” Behnken said in an interview.
Instead, they got this adorable dino -- and no one is complaining.