'Baa'-ck from the moon, Shaun the Sheep to go on Artemis post-flight ESA tour

Peter Lord, co-founder and creative director at Aardman, holds up the stop motion animation figure of Shaun the Sheep that flew on NASA's Artemis 1 mission to the moon. Behind him is Shaun's European Space Agency astronaut portrait.

Europe's first lunar "lamb-assador" has returned home to a hero's welcome as he prepares to be herded off on a celebratory post-flight tour.

"Shaun the Sheep," the title character from a popular animated television series, arrived back in England on Wednesday (March 29), three and a half months after he splashed down aboard NASA's Artemis 1 mission to the moon. Shaun, in the form of a 6-inch-tall (16 centimeters) stop motion model, was hailed for his service to the European Space Agency (ESA) during an event held at Aardman Animations, where his official astronaut portrait, a commemorative plaque and the documents attesting to his flight were unveiled.