How to get your name on a space mission
NASA is offering people around the world the chance to send their names on a journey around the Moon as part of the upcoming Artemis II mission, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Members of the public can register their names to be placed on an SD card that will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft through the Send Your Name with Artemis II initiative. Registration is open until January 21, allowing participants to “join” the historic lunar mission and download a personalized digital boarding pass and a virtual passport as keepsakes.
NASA says the initiative is aimed at engaging the public and inspiring interest in space exploration as the agency moves toward a sustained human presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars. The collected names will be loaded onto Orion shortly before launch and will travel around the Moon and back to Earth with the crew.
“Artemis II is a key test flight in our effort to return humans to the Moon’s surface and build toward future missions to Mars. It is also an opportunity to inspire people across the globe and give them a chance to follow along as we lead the way in human exploration deeper into space,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The mission is scheduled to launch no later than April 2026 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will last approximately 10 days. Artemis II will carry four astronauts - Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen - on a flight around the Moon and back.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that a space startup plans to open the first hotel on the Moon by 2032.
