A late Laredoan who was key in Apollo 13's successful return to Earth won an online NASA contest to fly around the moon. A mannequin will be named after NASA electrical engineer, Arturo B. Campos.
"If it hadn't been for the procedure Campos and his colleagues put together, it is likely the Apollo 13 mission would not be remembered as the 'successful failure' that it is today," a NASA official told CNN.
Campos died in 2004 when he was 66 years old.
Commander "Moonikin" Campos will launch on an unmanned Orion spacecraft later this year as a stand-in to provide data on what humans may experience in flight.
The moonikin will be accompanied on the flight by two female-bodied model human torsos, named "Zohar" and "Helga."
“It is a fitting tribute that the data gained from Artemis I will help us prepare to fly astronauts — including the first woman and first person of color — to the Moon, where we will get ready for Mars,” said Brian Odom, NASA’s acting chief historian at Marshall Space Flight Center.
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