The crew of the remarkable Polaris Dawn private mission took with them a symbol of childhood dreams and hope – a Shiba Inu toy dog named Asteroid. The plush dog has an important task – it is an indicator of weightlessness aboard the spacecraft. Liv Perroto, a girl who has overcome cancer, sewed her own toy for Polaris Dawn at the invitation of the mission team.
“A zero-g indicator is a little plush toy that floats in the air. It basically shows that you are in zero-g,” Liv says in the video. That’s exactly what happened when the Polaris Dawn crew, led by Jared Isaacman, entered orbit on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. During the five-day mission, the crew plans to make the first commercial spacewalk and rise above all previous flights since Apollo.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three flights in the Polaris program funded by Isaacman. The program aims to develop technologies that will help realize SpaceX’s vision for spaceflight. Isaacman, who previously sponsored the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, met Liv during that mission. Liv also presented a card with a wish to fly into space as Hayley Arceneaux, a former St. Jude’s Hospital patient and Inspiration4 crew member.
“Basically, my one passion is to be the first child in space,” Liv said. She became part of Polaris Dawn’s ground support and developed Project Asteroid, inspired by Elon Musk’s Shiba- Inu dog named Floki.
Similar to the Inspiration4 mission’s weightlessness indicator, Asteroid is also helping St. Jude’s Hospital. SpaceX is selling copies of it for $25, and the funds go to help children being treated for cancer.
Liv dreams that Asteroid will be an example for children, “Oh, Asteroid went to space and I can, too. I can achieve my dreams.”
We previously reported on how a Snoopy doll acted as a weightlessness indicator inside the Orion spacecraft.
According to Space
