The next time humans fly to the moon, there will be a Canadian among the crew. Astronaut Jeremy Hansen has been chosen to fly on the Artemis II mission, slated for liftoff as early as next April.

But today, NASA announced the possible addition of another Canadian on the flight. Sort of. The space agency ran a contest this year called the NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge , and three Canadian teams are among the finalists.

“Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge” is a bit of a mouthful, so it’s also known as a Moon Mascot. Basically, spacecraft often fly with a small stuffed animal or or toy aboard. When the flight reaches the stage of weightlessness, this little passenger starts to float around the capsule, acting as a zero-gravity indicator, or ZGI.

The tradition dates back to the earlie

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