NASA offering to fly your name around the moon on Artemis I

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Have you ever wanted to travel into space but can’t afford the hefty price tag? NASA is offering the next best thing: a free virtual boarding pass with your name on it.

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According to USA Today, space enthusiasts can now add their names to a flash drive that will be placed aboard the Orion capsule during NASA’s Artemis I mission, tentatively set to launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in May.

“We’re getting ready for #Artemis I — and we want to take you with us,” NASA tweeted Wednesday. “Add your name to the upcoming mission, and it will be flown aboard the @NASA_Orion spacecraft as it orbits the moon.”

To add your name, visit the Artemis homepage and click the “Get Boarding Pass” link, then fill out the form. The site will generate a digital boarding pass before directing you to a link to become a virtual guest, so you can follow the agency’s future launches online, USA Today reported.

Artemis I “will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration,” according to NASA’s website.

“During this flight, the (Orion) spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown,” the website says. “It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about a four- to six-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.”

NASA hopes its subsequent Artemis missions will take humans around the moon in May 2024 and to the moon in 2025, according to USA Today.

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Photos: Snow Moon 2022 brightens the night sky The February full moon, also known as the "Snow Moon," rises behind people standing on The Edge, the outdoor observation deck in Manhattan, New York City, on February 15, 2022. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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