The Orion spacecraft will host a trio of astronaut-like payloads that will help NASA learn how best to protect real astronauts during future crewed Artemis missions to the Moon. Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida installed the payloads inside the Orion spacecraft ahead of rolling out to Launch Pad 39B for the Artemis I mission, an uncrewed flight test of Orion ahead of Artemis II, the first with crew.
“Moonikin” Commander Campos, named after Arturo Campos, will be aboard Orion along with sensors to provide data on what crew members may experience during a trip to the Moon. Campos occupies the commander’s seat inside Orion and is equipped with two radiation sensors in his spacesuit — a first-generation Orion Crew Survival System suit, which astronauts will wear during launch, entry, and other dynamic phases of their missions. His seat also has sensors to record data on acceleration and vibration data during the mission.
Riding along with Campos as part of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) are two phantom torsos: Helga and Zohar. Zohar wears a radiation protection vest equipped with sensors to determine radiation risk on the way to the Moon.
Image credit: NASA/Frank Michaux