— The first NASA crew to launch to the moon in more than 50 years will be joined by a polar bear or maybe a zebra, an octopus or perhaps even a "lunar crust-acean," as they are among the finalists in a global contest to design the astronauts' zero-gravity indicator.

One of the small dolls — which also includes a tribute to "Earthrise" and a plush representation of the Greek goddess Artemis, the namesake for NASA's new lunar program — will fulfill the purpose and tradition of flying a tethered toy as a visual signal that the crew are in the weightless environment of outer space. The zero-g indicator (ZGI) will begin floating aboard the mission's Orion spacecraft before the astronauts can unbuckle from their seats and do the same.

The Artemis II crew includes commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch, all with NASA, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist. The 11-day flight will loop far beyond the moon and return to Earth, testing critical systems for later lunar orbit and landing missions.

"These finalists have proven they indeed have 'the right stuff,'" said Matt Barrie, the chief executive of Freelancer, NASA's partner in the "Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge," in a statement released on Friday (Aug. 15).

The crowdsourcing company organized the judging panel that chose the 25 finalists from the 2,605 entries that were submitted between March and June. The selected dolls include 12 designed by individual students and classroom teams and 13 by adults. The finalists hailed from nine U.S. states and nine foreign countries, including Canada, Japan, Peru, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

"The creativity they've shown is incredible — they should be proud to have their efforts recognized on such a stage and be part of humanity's ongoing quest to understand the cosmos," said Barrie.

NASA is expected to name the winning ZGI later this year.

That one submission will be made into a doll and flown on the Artemis II mission, currently on track to launch as early as February, but no later than April 2026. Entrants created designs that represented "humanity, exploration and the spirit of the Artemis campaign" that could be made from a list of materials from NASA's Thermal Blanket Lab, which will assemble the ZGI from the winner's instructions and renderings.

The 25 finalists won $1,225 or an Artemis prize pack, depending on their age. In total, $23,275 in prizes were awarded.

The tradition of flying zero-g indicators began in the former Soviet Union with the world's first human spaceflight in 1961. Since then, many of Yuri Gagarin's fellow cosmonauts have flown toys and stuffed dolls as talisman and ZGI, often at the suggestion of their children.

The ZGI custom migrated to the U.S. with the first flights of NASA's Commercial Crew program. NASA's uncrewed Artemis I mission, which flew around the moon in 2022, carried a custom-made Snoopy doll, complete with a miniature version of the same pressure suit that the Artemis II astronauts will wear on Orion.

The 25 finalists in the "Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge" are: