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The famous children's cartoon character Shaun the Sheep has been officially named as a member of the upcoming Artemis 1 mission to space.

This famous children’s cartoon character is traveling to space

by Jeremy B

The famous children’s cartoon character Shaun the Sheep has been officially named as a member of the upcoming Artemis 1 mission to space and interested parties can follow his training.


The European Space Agency announced its latest astronaut on the forthcoming Artemis 1 mission. The ESA’s Director for Human and Robotic Exploration David Parker made the announcement earlier this month.

Shaun the Sheep is a popular British stop-motion animation show. The character is a spinoff from the also-popular British show Wallace and Gromit and is beloved by millions. He is clever and often finds himself in sticky situations but is able to escape.

“Shaun’s mission assignment rounds off the first phase for the latest members of our astronaut corps, with Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti currently on the International Space Station on her second spaceflight, Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen named for his second flight and before we introduce our new astronauts from the 2021 call for selection later this year.”

ESA’s David Parker

The Artemis 1 mission is a lunar mission that plans to take a trip around the moon later this year.

“This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA. We’re woolly very happy that he’s been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it’s a giant leap for lambkind,” said Parker.

People can follow Shaun’s training here including his survival training.


Cover image credit: ESA

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