NASA is Letting People Fly Their Name Around the Moon With Artemis 1

Here’s your chance to participate in NASA’s return to the Moon with the Artemis program!

NASA is inviting people to submit their names to be included on a flash drive that will be sent along with Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight that kicks off the space agency’s plans to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.

The flight, which is not yet officially scheduled, should take place in the coming next few months, perhaps late May, June or July 2022.

The sign-up process is easy: go to this link on NASA’s website, and click on the “Get boarding pass.” Users will be directed to fill in their first and last name, along with a 4-7 digit pin code. A “boarding pass” will be displayed with your name, which you can save, or you can access it again later by remembering your pin code. After submitting, NASA will send a QR code to allow those who sign up to join future NASA launches by watching online. T

Artemis 1 will launch from the historic Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, using the Space Launch System (SLS) for the first time. NASA says the Orion spacecraft “will demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.”

The plan is for the uncrewed Orion to orbit the Moon for approximately a week and spend about a month in space. This will allow engineers to test out all the systems on board the spacecraft and rocket and enable the first future crews to travel beyond Earth orbit since 1972, the final Apollo mission.

Of course, this isn’t the first time NASA has gathered names to send along to space. Almost all of NASA’s robotic missions in the past decade or more have offered this opportunity, which is a fun way to include everyone on these missions of exploration.