Like millions of people around the world, Mariah Garrett has been glued to NASA’s Artemis II mission to the moon — but she hasn’t been watching alone.
Her adorable orange cat, Miles, has been equally intrigued by it all.
“He typically doesn’t watch TV with me because he’d rather nap,” Mariah told The Dodo. “But he has (for whatever reason) seemed extra attentive to the NASA Artemis II livestreams.”
The other day, while watching the livestream with Miles on her lap, Mariah snapped a photo showing just how interested her cat was in the mission.
“Teaching my cat about Artemis II, space and our beloved moon,” Mariah wrote in a post while sharing the image.
Little could she have guessed what would happen next.
Shortly after posting the image and caption to X, Mariah got a message in return — evidently from the astronauts themselves, some 250,000 miles away.
And it couldn’t have been sweeter:
“Tell your cat the Artemis II crew said pspsps,” was the response.
“I totally did not expect NASA to reply!” Mariah said. “It was quite the surprise! But a very nice one, since it’s such a special historical event! It felt nice to play a tiny part in it.”
Miles rarely leaves the house, but his adorable influence has traveled well beyond the planet he calls home.
Though astronauts loving their own pets is nothing new (Artemis II crew member Christina Koch is a well-known dog lover), Miles may very well be the first outsider cat to garner a mention from beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
“If that is the first shoutout to a cat from space, then I have peaked in life as a cat mom, and I am honored,” Mariah said, adding that Miles may be open to new opportunities if NASA were ever to call.
“My friends and family are making jokes about my silly cat going to space on the next Artemis mission,” Mariah said. “He’s a very cuddly and friendly cat, so he’d make a great space travel companion.”
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