By Burt Dicht
NSS Managing Director of Membership
NSS Space Coast Correspondent

Over the years, I have been fortunate to meet 174 space explorers. Yes, I actually counted them.

The first astronaut I ever met was Paul J. Weitz. It was 1975, and he came to my high school in Philadelphia, Northeast High School, to visit our student space program, Project SPARC (Space Research Capsule). At the time, Weitz was already a veteran astronaut who had flown on Skylab 2 and would later command STS-6, the first flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Little did I know then that meeting astronauts would become a recurring part of my life. Since that day, I have met astronauts from around the world. Most have been NASA astronauts, but I have also met cosmonauts and astronauts from Italy, France, Brazil, Canada, and Japan. I have met private astronauts who flew aboard Soyuz to the International Space Station, astronauts from Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, and members of the Inspiration4 crew.

Most remarkable of all, I have met 10 of the 12 astronauts who walked on the Moon. But until recently, there was one kind of space explorer I had never met before: a space armadillo.

Enter Rupert

Meet Rupert the Space Armadillo, the official mascot of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum (CCSFM).

Rupert’s story began in 2019 when two museum volunteers presented a plush armadillo to museum director Jamie Draper. During lunch that day, Draper and his team began inventing a backstory for the character. Before long, Rupert the Space Armadillo had a personality, a mission, and a place in the museum’s outreach efforts.

According to museum lore, Rupert lives in the underbrush around the museum at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. His ancestors supposedly escaped from a local zoo nearly a hundred years ago and gradually spread across Florida’s Space Coast. Growing up in the shadow of the Cape’s mighty launch complexes, Rupert developed a fascination with rockets at an early age.

Ever since seeing his first launch, Rupert dreamed of going to space. Unlike most childhood dreams, this one actually came true.

Rupert Goes to Space

In August 2025, Rupert achieved something no museum mascot had done before. He flew to space. Rupert was launched to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX Crew-11 on August 2, 2025. That flight made him the first armadillo and the first official space museum mascot to travel into space. His ride came courtesy of astronaut Michael E. Fincke, who carried Rupert along on the mission.

Rupert did not simply show up on launch day. According to his official biography, he spent a year preparing for the flight. His training included completing the USAFA Space AI Challenge, Space Cargo Specialist training, and several other courses that remain classified.

Somewhere along the way he also earned the rank of Lieutenant in the United States Space Force, which may make him the only armadillo with a security clearance.

A Very Gracious Space Explorer

In my experience, astronauts are gracious about sharing stories of their missions—the launch, the view of Earth, and the challenges of spaceflight. Rupert was no different. He seemed perfectly at home greeting students and visitors coming through the museum. Now that he is back on Earth, Rupert has returned to his primary assignment: outreach and education.

You will find him greeting guests, posing for photos, and helping inspire the next generation of explorers who visit the museum. And if even one of those young visitors grows up to fly in space, Rupert will have played a small part in that journey.

Explorer Number 175

After meeting 174 human space explorers, I never expected the next one on my list to be an armadillo.

But space exploration has always had a sense of humor. Mascots have long been part of the culture of human spaceflight. While Rupert was the first museum mascot to fly to space, Astrobeagle Snoopy has made several trips to space, most recently as the zero-gravity indicator for NASA’s Artemis I flight test in November 2022.

Perhaps Snoopy will one day join my list, but for now I am happy to report that space explorer number 175 on my list is Rupert the Space Armadillo. And somehow, it feels perfectly appropriate that a creature who grew up watching rockets from the underbrush of Cape Canaveral would eventually get his own trip to space.

On the Space Coast, even the wildlife grows up dreaming of space.

More information about Rupert and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum