NASA's official Artemis II plushie 'Rise' now for sale

Space fans can now order Rise, the plushie that stole the world's hearts when it flew around the moon with the Artemis II astronauts. The soft, squishy toy is what's known as a zero-gravity indicator, a small object that floats to show the crew and mission control when the capsule has reached space. The tradition dates back to the early 1960s and has continued with Beanie Babies, Snoopy, Baby Yoda, and other stuffed animals that sometimes reach mascot status. Dreamed up by second-grader Lucas Ye, Rise is a smiling moon wearing a cap that resembles Earth. The design represents the famous Earthrise image taken during Apollo 8, when humans first saw our home planet hovering just above the moon's horizon. Lucas crafted his own prototype before winning a NASA contest last year out of more than 2,600 entries. The crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — had the final pick. During the mission, Rise had an SD card carrying over 5.6 million people's names, submitted from space fans around the world, tucked in a tiny pocket. The character quickly became a breakout star of the mission, the first flight to dee