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September 10, 2025<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Your Name Could Orbit the Moon with NASA\u2019s Artemis II<\/p>\n
The public can submit names to travel along with four astronauts on an orbital journey to the moon next year<\/p>\n
By Clara Moskowitz edited by Dean Visser<\/span><\/p>\n The Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft sit at the launch pad for dress rehearsals at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022.<\/p>\n Your name could make it to the moon along with NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission next year\u2014the first time a crew will travel to Earth\u2019s natural satellite in more than 50 years.<\/p>\n Anyone can submit their name in English here or Spanish here. The collected names will be included on an SD digital memory card that will be carried onboard the Orion capsule as it ferries four astronauts into orbit around the moon. The deadline to register is before January 21, 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one way for the public to feel like they\u2019re a little closer to the mission than just being spectators,\u201d says space collectibles expert Robert Pearlman, editor of the space memorabilia website collectSPACE. Everyone who enters their name can download a collectable \u201cboarding pass\u201d to commemorate the mission.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n NASA routinely offers similar opportunities on its space exploration missions. \u201cRight now there are names aboard the Perseverance rover on Mars, the Parker Solar Probe at the sun and the Europa Clipper mission on its way to Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa,\u201d Pearlman says.<\/p>\n A commemorative virtual Artemis II boarding pass issued by NASA. Participants’ submitted names will fly around the Moon on an SD card inside the Orion spacecraft when the mission launches in 2026.<\/p>\n Artemis II is slated to lift off from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime by April 2026. It will launch onboard the agency\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket\u2014a heavy-lift vehicle that makes use of some recycled components from NASA\u2019s space shuttle and that has been in development for more than a decade. The rocket, which hasn\u2019t carried humans before, has come under fire for its gigantic $23-billion budget, outdated technology and delayed timeline. The nonreusable lifter will reportedly cost $5.7 billion for just this launch.<\/p>\n The Artemis II mission is part of NASA\u2019s plan to resume deep-space exploration. In the Artemis I flight in 2022, an SLS rocket sent an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the moon and back. If all goes well\u2014and NASA receives enough funding\u2014Artemis III will send astronauts to the moon\u2019s surface for a stay of roughly a month, perhaps as soon as 2027.<\/p>\n Yet moon exploration is in some ways more difficult now than it was during the 1960s era of Apollo, even though we all have more computing power in our pockets these days than NASA had in entire buildings back then. The agency is struggling under threats of budget cuts and the possibility of losing out to China in the latest race to the moon.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" September 10, 2025 2 min read Your Name Could Orbit the Moon with NASA\u2019s Artemis II The public can submit names to travel along with four astronauts on an orbital journey to the moon next year By Clara Moskowitz edited by Dean Visser The Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft sit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[7387,2509,1615,1883,1014],"class_list":{"0":"post-20394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-artemis","9":"tag-mission","10":"tag-moon","11":"tag-nasas","12":"tag-send"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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