Sensor-rigged dummies named Moonikin Campos, Helga and Zohar will oversee cargo ranging from cubesats to Apollo artefacts and Shaun the Sheep
At three metres tall, Nasa’s Orion capsule is roomier than Apollo’s capsule and seats four astronauts instead of three, but for Monday’s test flight it will have a payload ranging from a mannequin named Helga to bits of Apollo 11’s engine and the odd stuffed toy.
For the flight, a full-sized dummy in an orange flight suit will occupy the commander’s seat, rigged with vibration and acceleration sensors. The “commander” was named Moonikin Campos in a public contest, in honour of Arturo Campos, a Nasa engineer who helped save Apollo 13 from disaster by working out how to jury-rig its partly crippled electrical system to bring the astronauts home.
