Curiosities of Artemis 2: An astronaut plushie, a Wikipedia editor in space, and nods to covert advertising

NASA’s new lunar era with the Artemis 2 mission has provided some iconic moments, and others that seemed designed for social media. A greater presence of women in STEM roles, a toy that carried millions of names to the Moon, and iPhones for each crew member are among the unique highlights of the mission that returned humanity to the Moon.

Rise, the fifth crew member

After the Orion spacecraft splashed down, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen returned home with a small plushie named Rise. The toy also served a purpose: to act as a zero-gravity indicator. Packed with state-of-the-art sensors and systems designed to survive deep space, it floated inside the capsule to confirm the behavior of the microgravity environment.

Rise was designed by Lucas Ye, an eight-year-old boy from California, and selected from over 2,600 entries from more than 50 countries. Inside, the lunar mascot carried a micro SD card with the names of nearly six million people who had signed up through a NASA website to, in some way, travel to the Moon. “Hi! I’m Rise! About a week ago, I launched aboard the Artemis II mission with four of my besties. Since then, I have been serving a very important purpose aboard the Orion spacecraft… I float. (And I look cute.)” he shared on social media, acting as a sort of community manager.

More women in lunar exploration

Artemis featured a much broader representation of women in key areas such as engineering, data analysis, geology, and flight operations — a significant change from the Apollo missions.

A photograph taken in the Science Evaluation Room (SER) showing a high proportion of women has garnered widespread praise. This space, inaugurated in 2025 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, serves as a real-time analysis center for crew observations. From there, scientists work alongside flight controllers and imaging specialists to guide the science conducted on and around the Moon.

The first Wikipedia editor in space

Christina Koch has at least three confirmed milestones: becoming the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first to travel to the Moon, and, to date, the first Wikipedia editor to do so. In 2019, under the username Astro Christina, the American astronaut edited an entry in the free encyclopedia about the International Space Station. Specifically, she edited information about her own spacewalk, during her first flight beyond Earth.

Coincidence or marketing strategy?

The line between a technical tool, a product, and a brand showcase became thin during the Artemis 2 mission when iPhones, a couple of Nikon D5 cameras, Jessica Alba’s brand of cream, and a container of Nutella rotating on the Orion spacecraft appeared on the scene.

Video clips of the hazelnut cocoa cream jar and the actress’s reaction to Koch’s request for her company’s cream, during a live broadcast, have gone viral and sparked speculation on the internet about whether it is covert advertising.

NASA has denied this. Its press secretary, Bethany Stevens, asserted that the crew’s menu is not the result of “any kind of brand sponsorship.” Meanwhile, the U.S. space agency had also previously announced that it would provide crew members with iPhone 17s and Nikon cameras. “We are equipping our crews with the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and videos with the world,” said agency head Jared Isaacman.

Body technology, space food, and a prophetic message

• Wearables: The crew of the Orion spacecraft wore wrist monitors designed to record their sleep patterns, physical activity, and movements in microgravity. This wearable technology allowed for real-time monitoring of their health status during the 10-day mission.
• A space menu: 189 foods, nine condiments, five hot sauces on board, and more than 10 drinks, from coffee to smoothies. Mexican tortillas, nuts, macaroni and cheese, and barbecue beef were among the items on the list. The food had to be easy to prepare and eat, with minimal crumbs or particles.
• The fortune cookie message: “A visit to a strange place will bring you new perspective,” reads the fortune cookie that Commander Reid Wiseman opened in 2017. “Perhaps the Moon or a journey to Mars,” he wrote on the social network X.
• A souvenir from Apollo 18: Among the cargo on board was the American flag prepared for Apollo 18. This mission was canceled by Richard Nixon in 1970. The former president refused to fund the enormous costs of the program and decided to focus on the development of the Space Shuttle and Skylab, launched by NASA in May 1973.
• NASA chief’s favorite photo: Captured from the Orion spacecraft, the scene shows the Moon backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6. The image was recorded by external cameras mounted on the spacecraft’s solar panels.

Artemis 2 has provided a wealth of images to whet our appetites for future lunar missions. Artemis 3 is scheduled to launch in 2027 to test lunar landers in Earth orbit. A year later, Artemis 4 is expected to achieve a crewed lunar landing, something that hasn’t happened since 1972.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition