WASHINGTON — You may not be able to afford to board a rocket and go to space, but your name can. NASA has set up a portal that will let you send your name to space for free on the Artmetis I rocket.
Your name will be included on a flash drive that will be on board the spacecraft that will fly around the moon. Those who sign up will even get a boarding pass with their name on it. The rocket - with its Orion capsule - is scheduled to roll out for launch on March 17.
The boarding pass will cost you nothing. That's a big difference from the out-of-this-world price of flights with commercial spacecraft, which can cost around $250,000.
The form to send your name to space is found here on NASA's website.
NASA says that Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The flight will help to one day land the first woman on the Moon and the first person of color on the moon.
The historic launch is set to take place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA says Artemis I will be the first in a series of complex missions that will build a long-term human presence at the moon for decades to come.
During the flight, the most powerful rocket in the world will be launched and it will fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans.
“This is a mission that truly will do what hasn’t been done and learn what isn’t known,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager at NASA headquarters in Washington. “It will blaze a trail that people will follow on the next Orion flight, pushing the edges of the envelope to prepare for that mission.”
It will travel a whopping 280,000 miles from Earth.