Why manikins and Snoopy will make up the crew of NASA's Artemis I mission

No humans will be on NASA's Artemis I mission, but the spaceship will be full. There will be thousands of souvenirs on board when the mission launches Monday.

There will be a lot of technology that will gather data during the 42 day mission that will take the uncrewed spacecraft as far as 280,000 miles away from Earth.

Since people haven't set foot on the moon in nearly 50 years, the test flight will be a trial of the new rocket and spaceship.

Mike Sarafin, the mission manager for Artemis I, said at the press conference that this is a stress test of the space launch system rocket.

The Artemis I test flight will give us a lot of information. We will change and modify anything we need to prepare ourselves for a crewed flight on the next mission.

Humans are going to go to the moon in 25 years. Passengers on this mission will be manikins.

The manikin was named after the NASA engineer who helped get the Apollo 13 crew back to Earth safely.

The commander's seat will be occupied by a dog. The sensors under the seat measure acceleration and vibration to give crew members a better idea of what to expect. There will be two radiation sensors in the spacesuit that will be worn by Campos.

Moonikin Campos could have fun, but it won't be by itself. There are two other manikins sitting with it.

NASA calls Helga and Zohar phantoms because of the materials they are made of. Radiation detection and measurement is a large part of their mission.

Helga won't be wearing a radiation protection vest, but Zohar will, according to NASA. The study will provide valuable data on radiation levels astronauts may encounter on lunar missions and evaluate the effectiveness of the protective vest that could allow crew to exit the storm shelter and continue working on critical mission activities.

Don't forget about Snoopy

There are many other items joining the Artemis I mission, but none are as famous as the black and white dog created by Charles M. Schulz.

When the lunar module of the Apollo 10 mission was nicknamed "Snooping Around" because of its role in scouting out landing sites for the Apollo 11 mission, NASA named it "Snooping Around".

According to NASA, the public was excited about America's achievements in space during the Apollo years.

He has a mission of his own. The team on the ground will be shown a zero gravity indicator when the Artemis I mission ends.