NASA's Artemis II Gravity Indicator 'Rise' Lives On | Johnson Space Center

NASA's Artemis II Gravity Indicator 'Rise' Lives On | Johnson Space Center

Attendees pose with 'Rise', a representation of the zero gravity indicator for the Artemis II Mission, during an Artemis II employee celebration event at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on June 25, 2026.

The 'Rise' Moon mascot for the Artemis II Mission flew along with the crew, carrying 5,647,889 names on their journey around the Moon. People from around the world submitted their names through the Send Your Name with Artemis campaign. These names were downloaded onto a secure digital (SD) card that was safely stored inside Rise, the zero gravity indicator designed by 3rd grader Lucas Ye from California. 

The zero gravity indicator for the Moonbound crew was selected from thousands of submissions from over 50 countries and is named “Rise.” The design was inspired by the iconic Earthrise moment from the Apollo 8 mission.

NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission took NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth.

The Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down on April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean following its journey around the Moon.

The first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis Program lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century. 

The crew completed a record-setting lunar flyby, taking them 252,756 miles at their farthest distance from Earth and 4,067 miles above the lunar surface at their closest approach. 

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Learn more about NASA's Artemis II Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii

Image Credit: NASA/JSC/James Blair
Date: June 25, 2026

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