Once again, Shaun the Sheep has proven he's one of a kind.
The children's film character finished up astronaut training last week with a special flight that simulates microgravity on Earth.
Shaun finished up on July 19, not only just before the 50th anniversary of the first human moon landing — but also in time for the launch of his second animated feature film, called "Farmageddon."
"The plot features an alien called Lu-La who crash-lands near Shaun's home at Mossy Bottom Farm," European Space Agency (ESA) officials said in a statement. "Shaun and the gang then help the alien to get home, through the application of science, engineering, luck and more luck."
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With the help of ESA, Shaun flew on an Airbus A310 aircraft that does parabolas to simulate the microgravity or "weightlessness" astronauts experience in space.
"The flight was intended to prepare Shaun for his role as a space traveller in his new film," ESA said in the statement. "It offered him insight into the rigorous training that all astronauts have before their missions," the agency added, including Italy's Luca Parmitano (an ESA member) who successfully launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for Expedition 60 on July 20.
"We are very happy to have helped Shaun in his big space adventure," said Jan Wörner, director-general of ESA, in the statement.
This isn't Shaun's first space connection.
Aardman Studios — which participated in the production of "Farmagaddon" with distributor StudioCanal — also worked with ESA during the mission of British astronaut Tim Peake in 2015. Also, the first Shaun the Sheep movie has a soundtrack by Ilan Eshkeri, who has worked on several space projects with ESA and other entities.
"Farmageddon" is expected to launch Sept. 26 in Germany, Oct. 16 in France and Oct. 18 in the United Kingdom.
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