On April 1, Artemis II's Orion spacecraft blasted off into space for a trip around the Moon. Inside were four astronauts and an adorable stuffed toy named Rise. The tiny plush had a simple, but important job — to float when the spacecraft reached zero gravity. This gave the crew an easy, visual signal that it was safe to unbuckle their seatbelts.

Rise is the brainchild of Lucas Ye, a second grader from Mountain View, California. The eight-year-old created it for NASA's "Moon Mascot" Challenge. The contest invited people from around the world to design small objects that could float in space. Lucas's design was picked from more than 2,600 entries spanning 50 countries.

Rise is a small, Moon-shaped, white plush wearing a planet-themed baseball cap. The cap features Earth and a galaxy-and-rockets design. It was inspired by a 1968 "Earthrise" photograph taken during the Apollo 8 mission. Like Artemis II, Apollo 8 carried astronauts around the Moon.

As a reward for his winning design, Lucas and his family got to attend the Artemis II launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The eight-year-old described seeing the launch in person as "really cool."

The tradition of using stuffed toys as visual zero-gravity indicators began with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. He brought a small doll with him on the 1961 Vostok 1 mission to see it float in microgravity. Since then, the fun custom has appeared on many missions. Even the uncrewed Artemis I carried a Snoopy plush dressed in an astronaut suit.

Resources: ABCnews.com, Washingtonpost.com, NewYorktimes.com