SpaceX's Crew-1, an international crew of NASA astronauts en route to the International Space Station, has revealed that it has The Child (aka Baby Yoda) as a stowaway. The footage was captured by The Verge's science reporter, Loren Grush. Check out the footage she clipped from the flight's recordings below.

　　Good morning, I must have fallen asleep before I learned that Baby Yoda is the Crew-1's Zero G indicator. May this bless your Monday morning pic.twitter.com/5Ajhlr69p9

　　— Loren Grush (@lorengrush) November 16, 2020

　　Baby Yoda reportedly has a job: The toy is the flight's "zero G indicator," or a small object that can let crewmembers and/or any passengers know at a glance when the spaceship is in orbit and has reached a microgravity environment. While there is a clear link between astronauts and sci-fi--and especially Star Wars--fandom, it should be stated that this is something of a tradition. Earlier this year, according to The Verge, astronauts on SpaceX's historic launch brought a stuffed dinosaur along for the same purpose.

　　In a sentence sure to stupefy fairweather Star Wars fans: Recently, many fans had turned against Baby Yoda in Season 2 of The Mandalorian for controversially eating the Frog-Lady's eggs in an act that has been criticized as "genocide." Even though The Child did get some retribution in a recent episode, tempers are still roiling over the episode's incident.

　　Meanwhile, if you can continue to stomach--no pun intended--Baby Yoda, there has been no shortage of new merchandise rolled out by Disney to celebrate the new season. We've rounded up the usual suspects of toys and clothing here, but the ride-or-die Child fans might want to consider this line of expensive Mandalorian jewelry.

　　David Wolinsky on Google+