00:00Hey everyone, I'm Reid Wiseman, a crew member on Artemis II.
00:03And I'm Christina Koch, another crew member on Artemis II.
00:06Today we're going to be talking about how you know you're in space.
00:09The best way to know that is you're floating, and so is everything around you.
00:16What is a zero-g indicator usually?
00:19Bits in the palm of your hand, it's fairly lightweight,
00:22stuffed animals are very common, they can't be dangerous in space,
00:26they don't have sharp hedges.
00:28It's not a scientific instrument, but it does tell everybody who's watching,
00:32where everything else might be strapped in, we really are in space.
00:35There is their zero-g indicator.
00:37Loved hearing the crew's description of who chose this animal
00:40and everything that it means to their mission.
00:42I brought my zero-g indicator, this is giraffity.
00:45My mom gave this to my firstborn daughter,
00:47and then that was given to me by my kids to fly on the Soyuz with us.
00:51We brought a symbol of our class name, which is the eight balls,
00:54because there are eight people in the class of 2013,
00:57and so we were named the eight balls by actually your class.
01:01This is a stuffed animal on a string,
01:03and we generally hang it from the upper part of our spacecraft
01:06so that it's just dangling in the middle of our spaceship.
01:08When I was in the Soyuz, I looked at giraffity often,
01:12because it's a great instrument for how is your vehicle handling.
01:15You can tell y'all pitch and roll, you can tell dynamics,
01:18you can tell when the engines are firing and when they aren't firing.
01:20I see you have yours on a string.
01:22Yes, the stretchy string is essential.
01:25Not only does it float after you get to microgravity,
01:27when you're in those high-g situations, it extends.
01:31And so you actually can see how high and how many g's you're pulling
01:35by how far this moves down.
01:37And so it turns out that a very simple stuffed animal on a string
01:41can become your primary flight instrument,
01:43and a thing as complicated as a spaceship.
01:45The thing I love about the Zero-G Indicator is this human element.
01:53It reminds us why we're there, how we got there,
01:55the people that supported us along the way.
01:57And that is also what you want when you first get to space,
02:00because you are in a completely foreign environment,
02:02but that thing links you back.
02:05It was the first toy that my eight-year-old ever got.
02:07It's a great keepsake, and I love having him up here.
02:10Both of our sons were just super excited to see the toy that they had selected
02:14go on the mission with us.
02:16This is our little buddy, the Earth, that keeps us company.
02:19He kind of floats around during the day and follows us in our activities
02:22and learns what it's like to be in space.
02:26We've always talked about as a crew,
02:28what means the most to us about this mission,
02:30and we say that it's bringing everyone along with us for the ride.
02:34So I think it'd be really cool if we involved the public
02:37in our Zero-G Indicator choice.
02:39My name is Paula Cain.
02:49I'm Cody Haynes.
02:50I'm Erin Draper.
02:51We are here at Goddard Space Flight Center.
02:53We design and make multi-installation layer blankets
02:57that go onto space hardware
02:59to regulate the temperature of the hardware and electronics.
03:04Our different projects will range from telescopes,
03:07for some of the bigger ones, or it'll be something like a smaller satellite.
03:10It's very exciting supporting the contest.
03:13It's inspiring many different people to contribute creative ideas.
03:18It's always been cool to think that something that you've worked on
03:21has flown and gone into space.
03:24Whoever our contest winner is, once I have the design in front of me,
03:27I will literally draw out the design of the doll on this Mellanex material,
03:34and then I'll shape and form it to whatever it needs to be.
03:37Then we'll start cutting it out.
03:39We will start sewing it.
03:40There's going to be some type of tether on it,
03:42so it doesn't go floating away.
03:44So we're going to work on all that.
03:46One thing I think that's really interesting is that I found out that this is global,
03:49so this person can be from anywhere,
03:52and that they're designing this for, you know, NASA.
03:55And I think that's really cool and exciting.
03:57I don't think there's a better way to get people interested,
04:01to get people feeling like they're a part of this mission,
04:03than to have a part of them on this mission.
04:05Absolutely.
04:06And what better way to fly a mission around the moon
04:09than to invite the public inside the Orion spacecraft with us
04:12and ask for your help in designing our zero-g indicator?
04:16And really, the question is, what would you send to the moon?
04:19What would you want to remind you of your home when you're that far away?
04:23All you need is your idea for a zero-g indicator.
04:26You do not have to fabricate this.
04:28We have an amazingly talented group at the Goddard Space Flight Center
04:31who will be doing the hard work.
04:33It's just the idea that we are after.
04:35We want you to go ahead and start thinking about this.
04:38Get out a pencil, design, start to draw, get out your stylus.
04:41Make up a design that we can bring around the moon with us,
04:44and you never know, we might be reminded of exactly you on our mission.
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