A second-grader’s plush toy design will rocket to space alongside astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen when the Artemis II moon mission launches.

Lucas Ye, 8, designed a white moon plush named “Rise,” which wears an Earth cap with a brim highlighting the galaxy and rockets.

Lucas Ye, an 8-year-old from California, designed a moon mascot plush toy called “Rise” that will travel to space on the Artemis II mission to the moon.

Courtesy Freelancer

Lucas’ design, inspired by the famous Earthrise photo taken during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, was chosen out of 2,600 entries from over 50 countries as the official moon mascot of the NASA Artemis II mission in late March, according to Freelancer, the freelancing marketplace company that sponsored the mascot search.

Lucas Ye, an 8-year-old from California, designed a moon mascot plush toy called “Rise” that will travel to space on the Artemis II mission to the moon.

Courtesy Freelancer

In a video shared by Freelancer, Lucas broke down each element of his thoughtful design.

“It’s representing Earthrise, taken by Apollo 8 [astronaut] William Anders. The cap is representing Earth and Earthrise. The visor is representing the two past and future moon missions. The constellation Orion represents Artemis II. The moon, which has a tiny footprint on the back, is representing the past Apollo mission,” the 8-year-old from Mountain View, California, said.

Lucas Ye, an 8-year-old from California, designed a moon mascot plush toy called “Rise” that will travel to space on the Artemis II mission to the moon.

Courtesy Freelancer

Koch, one of the Artemis II astronauts and a mission specialist, introduced Lucas’ Rise plush in a ceremony at Kennedy Space Center on March 27.

“This little guy, Rise, really resonated with us, because the theme is actually the Earthrise photo taken on Apollo 8, which is inspirational to all of us,” Koch said at the time. “It is a mission that sort of mirrors our own, and we’ve incorporated it into our mission patch and also into our ethos and values as a crew, so, welcome aboard, Rise.”

During remarks at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman announced “Rise,” designed by Lucas Ye of Mountain View, California, as the zero gravity indicator that will fly with the crew around the Moon.

NASA

Rise will serve as the Artemis II astronauts’ zero gravity indicator, letting the crew know that they have reached weightlessness when it floats upward during their journey.

Astronauts have carried and used a variety of fun zero gravity indicators in past missions, including a Snoopy toy, a “Baby Yoda” toy and more.

Lucas said he’s a big fan of space exploration.

“I like space. I like rockets, like NASA, like the solar system. I like studying about space,” he said.