NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon blasts off into space with 'unique guest' on board

US astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken made history by blasting off into space with the NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch on May 30, but they had to share their limelight with a glittery dinosaur on board.

Millions of people across the world were glued to the live stream of the ‘spectacular’ launch of US astronauts from American soil for the first time in nine years and a soft toy was also noticed by many that flashed in front of the screen for a brief moment. One of the internet users posted the short clip showing the purple-coloured animal and called it the ‘first dinosaur in space’. 

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What’s the story behind the dinosaur?

According to international media reports, the sparkly dinosaur is called ‘Tremor’ and was selected by the sons of both astronauts currently orbiting in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Hurley and Behnken each have a son and both of them are reportedly enthusiastic about the extinct reptiles. And after they collected all their toys, Tremor was selected to accompany their fathers in the ‘historic’ mission to International Space Station. 

During the tour of the capsule in the orbit, Behnken said it was a “super cool” chance to do something for their sons who are “super excited” to see their toys floating around with them in the capsule which will reach its destination on May 31 at 10:29 ET.

The toy was previously spotted during the preparations for the launch earlier this week and just shortly after both US astronauts entered the orbit, the dinosaur was featured as the “new item” on SpaceX’s store as “Demo 2 Dinosaur Plush Toy” but has now been removed.

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'Making history'

The 'historic' NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A on May 30 at 3:22pm EDT to the International Space Station.

Even though the unfavourable weather conditions and fear of thunderstorms caused some delay on May 27 in the ‘#LaunchAmerica’ program, both NASA and Space X made a significant leap three days later towards the ‘revolutionisation’ of commercial space travel.

Space veterans Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode off the capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from the launch pad which was used by the Apollo Moon missions nearly half a century ago. 

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