Hi friends! I’m Tardi, a tardigrade astronaut on the International Space Station! Even though I’m smaller than a grain of sand, I’m on some of the biggest adventures in space!

Don’t let my tiny size fool you—I have eight little legs with bear-like claws (that’s why they call us “water bears“!) and a plump, rounded body with special segments that help me move. My translucent beige body has a slight peach tint, and if you look really closely, you might see a bluish glow inside me!

The most amazing thing about us tardigrades is our superpower—we can survive almost ANYWHERE in space! Extreme cold? No problem! No oxygen? I can handle it! Cosmic radiation? That’s just a sunny day for me! Even though I’m naturally tough, I still wear my special white and blue space suit with its tiny mission patches when I go on official duties. Safety first, as Commander Cat always says!

Speaking of Commander Cat, she’s the one who sent me on my very first solo mission. At first, I was nervous when I looked around at all the other animal astronauts—Engineer Elephant, Navigator Owl, and Doctor Dolphin seemed so much bigger and more important. But Commander Cat helped me understand that sometimes being small is actually a superpower!

My special mission was to inspect a tiny crack in the station’s water recycling system—a job only someone as small as me could do. Inside the system, I discovered a magical world of floating water droplets, like tiny planets in their own universe! Using my special ability to slow down my body processes, I carefully examined every surface until I found the crack. To humans it was invisible, but to me, it looked like a giant canyon!

Working together with Engineer Elephant (me on the inside, him on the outside), we fixed a problem that could have become serious if we hadn’t caught it early. That evening, Commander Cat announced to everyone, “Sometimes the biggest heroes come in the smallest packages!“

Now I know that being tiny doesn’t mean I can’t do big things. In fact, being microscopic makes me
the perfect explorer for special space missions that no one else can do!

Small but mighty, Tardi  🔬🚀