Olaf, the snowman from Disney's hit film Frozen, recently added a new job title to his resume: space traveler, after Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov brought him aboard the International Space Station.
Shkaplerov brought Olaf with him on November 24 when he arrived at the space station, in the form of a plush toy, at the request of his 8-year-old daughter.
And just like a real cosmonaut, Olaf got to float in space, with Shkaplerov posting photos of the snowman on Twitter both during and after his journey.
This guy will be flying with me and @AntonAstrey and @AstroSamantha in 9 days and 1.5 hours on #Soyuz TMA-15M pic.twitter.com/kVJtoU0ewY
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) November 14, 2014
С индикатором невесомости снеговиком Олафом в модуле Cupola // With Zero-G Indicator #Olaf in the #Cupola module pic.twitter.com/K5kS5qlWna — Anton Shkaplerov (@AntonAstrey) December 8, 2014
Olaf, though, isn't just a casual traveler: this snowman had a very important job during his journey to the ISS. He was tied to the Soyuz spacecraft that launched the new ISS crew, serving as their zero-g indicator: when Olaf started floating, the astronauts knew that they had successfully made it into space.
Olaf traveled to the ISS with Shkaplerov and two other astronauts: NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. There, they, along with their snowman buddy, joined NASA's Barry Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova. Olaf and his crewmates will return to Earth in May 2015.
Of course, Olaf isn't the first toy to make it to the ISS. It's a long-held tradition that astronauts use such a toy for the zero-g indicator. Other toys that have traveled to the station include an Angry Bird, Smokey Bear and Buzz Lightyear.
In Frozen, Olaf is a snowman brought to life by Elsa with her magical powers at the behest of her little sister Anna. The movie is the highest grossing animated movie of all time.
[Photo Credit: Walt Disney Pictures]
