What was meant to be a celebratory mascot reveal quickly turned into one of North Alabama’s most entertaining social media posts of the weekend.
On March 1, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center unveiled its brand-new mascots on social media — two very wide-eyed astronauts in full spacesuits — and invited followers to vote on their favorite name pair: Apollo and Artemis, Percy and Celeste, or Nano and Nova to win a prize pack. The giveaway runs through March 10 and includes a family four-pack of museum admission tickets with a planetarium show.
While the center encouraged excitement, many Facebook commenters focused less on the names and more on the mascots’ unique faces.
Within days, the post had generated 368 reactions, 424 comments and 70 shares on Facebook. A number of the comments leaned heavily into sci-fi humor. One commenter joked that the center’s new motto must be, “At the Space & Rocket Center, no one can hear you scream.”
Others described the mascots as “nightmare fuel,” questioned who approved the faces and suggested it might be April Fools’ Day on the wrong date.
Several parents chimed in with tongue-in-cheek concern that the characters might frighten children. One commenter wrote that it is “not too late to start over on those faces,” while another said their children would “come unglued” at the sight of them.
Some viewers joked that it looked as if a space calamity had befallen the astronauts, “They look like the suits failed.”
The mascots, however, appear to be very real as voting continues.
Whether the public lands on Apollo and Artemis, Percy and Celeste, or Nano and Nova, the new space explorers have certainly succeeded in capturing attention online.
