Baby Yoda is now in space, having been flown aboard the SpaceX flight by NASA astronauts

The company’s Falcon 9 rocket was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launch pad – SpaceX’s first full-length flight for NASA – and is expected to reach the International Space Station today.

The unusual “zero gravity indicator” shows when the rocket has escaped Earth’s attraction.

Alongside the human astronauts – Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency – the little Star Wars character was seen floating in the cabin.

“We have Baby Yoda on board trying to take a seat right now,” NASA communications specialist Leah Cheshier said in the mission agency’s live stream.

“I think it’s Victor Glover’s place, so I hope he doesn’t mind,” SpaceX engineer Jessica Anderson replied.

“Maybe Baby Yoda is trying to fly the vehicle,” Cheshier added.

The character, who hails from the Disney + The Mandalorian series and is officially called “The Child”, is the latest in a long tradition of using toys as an indicator that a spaceship has reached zero gravity.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-17M rocket, launched in July 2015, used an R2-D2 plush toy as an indicator of zero gravity.

The collaboration between SpaceX and NASA will give the United States the ability to launch people into space from its own country.

“Bottom line: I think it’s best for us to fly from the US if we can do it,” said SpaceX first crew commander Doug Hurley.

The astronauts will live and work on the International Space Station for about six months, the longest human space flight in NASA history.

NASA hopes to be able to rotate the crew between the ISS and the United States, which would allow more experiments to be conducted.

It takes nearly 28 hours to complete a flight to the ISS, but the journey is fully automated – with astronauts taking over manual control only as needed.

The dragon capsule, which can carry up to seven people, is expected to be recycled by SpaceX for the next mission, scheduled for March.

Over the next 15 months, SpaceX is expected to carry out seven Dragon missions for NASA, carrying both crew and cargo.

Some Twitter users mocked Mr. Musk, who previously downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

One user dubbed him “Space Karen” for his perceived hateful attitude towards the pandemic, causing the term to spread across the platform.