The world’s fastest-moving sloth may have just established a new record. A three-toed sloth, not just any sloth.
Mogensen: It’s a three-toed sloth that would be too fast for me
In an article from space.com, Crew-7 pilot Andreas “Andy” Mogensen, a Danish astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA), said from aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft “Endurance,” which was launched from Florida early on Saturday morning (August 26). He said, “It’s a three-toed sloth, not a two-toed one; apparently that would be too fast for me.”
Mogensen is currently traveling 17,500 mph (28,200 kph) in Earth orbit with his three crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Konstantin Borisov of Russia’s federal space corporation Roscosmos in preparation for a six-month stay on the International Space Station. “Sasha” the sloth is also. On Earth, a three-toed sloth moves at an average speed of 0.15 miles per hour (0.24 kilometers per hour).
Sasha had a motive for moving. The sloth’s job was to begin floating in the cabin as the spaceship achieved orbit, alerting the crew that they were now in the microgravity environment of space. This functioned as the astronauts’ “zero-g indicator.”
Mogensen radioed to Earth via SpaceX’s mission control in Hawthorne, California, saying, “I would like to introduce our zero-g indicator, which was selected by my three children.” Since the sloth is one of their favorite creatures, they chose it.
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The retail price of the 8-inch (20-centimeter) Ecokins Sloth Mini is $14
The very first space traveler, Soviet-era cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is credited with developing the practice of flying zero-g indicators. He did this by bringing a little doll with him on his 1961 journey so he could watch it float. Other Russian missions have since done the same, and it has since become customary.
MSN reported that the custom, zero-g indicator, which has since been copied by other businesses and NASA, was borrowed by SpaceX when it started preparing to fly astronauts in 2019. When Crew-7 arrives to the space station on Sunday, Sasha the sloth will meet “Suhail,” the emblem of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut program and Crew-6 zero-g indicator.
The Crew-7 zero-g indicator looks to be a member of Wild Republic’s Ecokins brand of plush toys that are “soft and cuddly” and constructed entirely from recycled water bottles. The retail price of the 8-inch (20-centimeter) Ecokins Sloth Mini is $14.
Sasha the sloth might have one more thing to say about living in space, zero-g indicator, whether he speaks slowly or quickly.
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