Astronaut Aboard the International Space Station Makes T. rex Soft Toy for her Son

Karen Nyberg, a keen quilter and a dab hand with a needle and thread had a few spare moments in what was her busy daily routine so she decided to make a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur soft toy for her little boy from some scraps of material that was lying around.  What’s so remarkable about that  you may ask?

Dinosaur Soft Toy

Karen is a flight engineer currently working on the International Space Station that is orbiting the Earth some 230 miles overhead.  This is the first soft toy made in space (we think), a T. rex created in zero gravity.

Karen has been on the International Space Station since May 29th of this year, missing Jack, her three-year-old son, she decided to make him a toy dinosaur, a special souvenir of his Mum’s time in space.  It seems that the supply boxes that carry the food containers on their space bound journey have a velcro-like packing material inside them.  Karen used this material to make the shape and the soft toy, once stitched, was stuffed with strips from an old T-shirt.

A Space Dinosaur

We at Everything Dinosaur are sure that Jack is going to love his “space dinosaur”, although this is not the first dinosaur in space.  Members of the Dinosauria have ventured into zero gravity before, and we at Everything Dinosaur produced an article on this remarkable feat, especially for an extinct order of reptiles.

To read more about dinosaurs in space: Dinosaurs and Spaceflight.

Working in weightlessness conditions hasn’t stopped Karen from showing off her crafting skills.  Perhaps, Karen could make a second stuffed toy dinosaur in the few spare minutes she gets during her busy work schedule.  This second soft toy could be put on display at the Kennedy Space Centre, to inspire the next generation of astronauts.

Great work Karen, we think Jack is going to love his dinosaur toy.

For more conventionally produced dinosaur soft toys and prehistoric animal plush:  Dinosaur Soft Toys.