The Ax-4 crew with their zero-g indicator, "Joy." Left to right: Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu at a pre-launch briefing on June 3, 2025.

An Earth-shaped plush flew aboard the test flight of Crew Dragon in March 2019, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted a photo. And in a 2016 article, Mashable noted several other times when plushes ...

When an international crew of astronauts launch on a commercial space mission, they will be joined by a स्वैन, a łabędź or a hattyú. Or, in English, a swan.