NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg is taking crafting to new heights…literally. A week ago, this flight engineer working at the International Space Station posted a photo of a plush green dinosaur to her Pinterest account with the caption “Made in space!”.
Nyberg, a crafter whose hobbies include quilting and sewing, brought thread, needles, and fabric samples with her. However, the dinosaur, a gift for her three-year-old son Jack, was made out of materials scavenged from the station: “It is made out of velcro-like fabric that lines the Russian food containers [that are] found here on the International Space Station,” Nyberg wrote about the doll, “It is lightly stuffed with scraps from a used t-shirt.”
While astronauts have brought dolls on board shuttles before, it very well may be that Nyberg’s dinosaur is the first stuffed animal to have been created in orbit.
It just goes to show that inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places. Hopefully this crafty lady will keep on creating; I’d love to see what she could do with freeze-dried ice cream!
Thanks to Collect Space
Images courtesy of Collect Space