Argentina Space launches a drawing contest to create its official mascot inspired by Juan the Monkey
The call is open to children and teenagers across Latin America. The challenge is to imagine and design the character that will represent Argentina Space 2026, inspired by Juan, the first Argentine astronaut and one of the most singular milestones in our aerospace history.
Argentina Space has launched the “Juan the Monkey” drawing contest, a free and open call for children and teenagers across Latin America as part of its 2026 edition. The initiative seeks to create the official mascot that will accompany the event and to recover, through the creativity of new generations, the story of Juan, the first Argentine astronaut.
Juan was a capuchin monkey born in the jungle of Misiones. On December 23, 1969, just months after humans reached the Moon, he lifted off from the Chamical base in La Rioja aboard the Canopus II sounding rocket. His flight was part of the BIO Project of the then National Commission for Space Research and marked a milestone for national science: from Argentine soil, Juan reached the edge of space and came back alive.
The mission made Argentina one of the first countries in the world to send a living being to space and recover it successfully. That is why the story of Juan the Monkey is not just a scientific curiosity: it is part of Argentina's aerospace memory, an early display of technological capability, imagination and national intelligence.
The contest challenge is to imagine and portray Juan as the official mascot of Argentina Space 2026. The brief invites entrants to work on the character, his physiognomy, his spacesuit, his expression and his personality, with an eye on the future of science, technology and the new space economy.
Children and teenagers can take part in two categories: Explorers, ages 6 to 12, and Cadets, ages 13 to 17. Each participant may submit one original, unpublished piece, made with any technique: pencil, watercolour, markers, tempera, collage, digital illustration or any other artistic medium that can later be digitised.
The contest will award one main prize per category: a digital drawing tablet to encourage creativity and artistic production. Physical delivery of the prize is limited to participants resident in Argentina; participants from other Latin American countries will receive institutional recognition and a digital diploma.
Entries are open until Friday, July 10, 2026 at 18:00 Argentine time. To take part, responsible adults must complete the official form, provide the required details and upload the digitised artwork in JPG, JPEG or PNG format, up to 10 MB.
With this initiative, Argentina Space seeks to bring new generations closer to Argentine aerospace history, promote creativity and build a shared symbol for the 2026 edition: a mascot that brings together imagination, scientific identity and the future.
Contest link:
https://argentinaspace.vercel.app/
Registration form:
https://forms.gle/uVAbieEeznpkbTGF9
