Shaun to the Moon and baaa-ck

As Europe’s first lunar ‘lamb-bassador’, Shaun the Sheep made a stopover at the room where European engineers tracked the spacecraft that powered him to the Moon and back, meeting many of the people who made his lunar mission possible.

Shaun took a peek inside the room full of big screens and computers where the European Service Module team monitored the spacecraft every second of the 25-day mission to the Moon and back – and cheered every milestone of Artemis I. The office is known as the Mission Evaluation Room and is located at ESA’s technical centre ESTEC in Noordwjik, the Netherlands.

Engineers flocked to meet the woolly space traveller and reminisced about the mission – how together they watched the European Service Module from countdown to launch on 16 November 2022 and then to separation from the Orion crew capsule for re-entry on 12 December 2022.

These experts provided in-depth advice and knowledge to NASA’s Orion teams at Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA.

Shaun was propelled by the 33 engines of the European module beyond the Moon and into deep space on the Artemis I. He flew by the Moon twice, passing as close as 130 km from the surface. The spacecraft used lunar gravity and its main engine to gain speed and propel itself over 430 000 km from Earth – farther than any human, or sheep, has ever travelled. Shaun returned to Earth cruising through our atmosphere 24 times faster than a speeding bullet.

Artemis I was the first flight of the next generation of human spacecraft to return humankind to the Moon. Orion and its European Service Module-2 are getting ready for the next flight, Artemis II at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.

Following his celebratory tour of space centres across Europe, Shaun is now back at Mossy Bottom Farm, still hoping to remain eligible for future flights.

Everything you need to know about Shaun’s lunar adventure is on ESA’s Orion blog.