NASA will send your name around the moon. Here's how to register

This initiative is part of the agency’s Artemis I drone mission, the first in the Artemis program to eventually return astronauts to the Moon.

It’s free to add your name to a flash drive, said NASA spokeswoman Kathryn Hambleton.

“We hope this is a way to excite people, uplift them and inspire the next generation, the generation of Artemis,” Hambleton said.

For this particular mission, a flash drive should be packed onto the spacecraft about a month before the launch date, which will determine how long NASA will accept applications, she said.

Hambleton said a launch date has not been announced, but the space agency is setting a date in May or June. She added that NASA plans to announce more details of the launch date in the coming weeks.

Since applications opened earlier this month, NASA has already received more than 1 million nominations, according to Hambleton.

“We hope to maintain that momentum just over a week ago (…) to collect more names and generate more enthusiasm from people around the world who will be on the move virtually,” she said.

Artemis I. Mission

This first Artemis mission, which will not carry any humans, will test NASA’s latest deep space exploration systems.

The Orion spacecraft will launch on the world’s most powerful rocket from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

It will travel more than 280,000 miles (450,616 kilometers) from Earth during a four- to six-week mission that will extend thousands of kilometers behind the Moon – the farthest point ever traveled by a human-designed spacecraft, According to NASA.

Once the spacecraft completes its orbit around the Moon, Orion will attempt to land safely off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

When the spacecraft returned to Earth, it traveled more than 1.3 million miles (2,092,147 kilometers), according to NASA.

NASA agency The second task You will experience different parts of the Orion and include the humans on board.