Lucas Ye's Rise: NASA's Moon Mascot for Artemis Two

0:00It's March 27. You're listening to Dallas News today? AI, Powered Local News. A second grade student from Mountain View, California, named Lucas Y.A.Y. has won NASA's contest for the Artemis-20 Gravity Indicator. His design, called Rise, is a plush toy shaped like the moon with an Earth-inspired cap. The Artemis-2 crew revealed it during a recent event at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rise draws inspiration from the famous Earth Rise photo, taken by Apollo 8 astronauts. It continues a fun tradition, following Snoopy on Artemis 1 and Baby Yoda on an earlier SpaceX crew flight. The crew will take Rise along on their 10-day trip around the Moon's orbit, testing NASA's new rocket and spacecraft. Mission Specialist Christina Koch shared how the Earth-Rise image shapes their mission patch and team spirit. Commander Reed Wiseman called the mascot special for the crew. They even tested Rise on a flight from Texas to Florida ahead of quarantine.

1:03NASA plans the first launch attempt for Wednesday night April 1, 2026, with back updates that week. A microSD card inside Rise will carry public names to space, with submissions closing recently. As Artemis 2 gears up, it paves the way for future landings on the Moon and beyond, building excitement for the whole program.