Want to send your name around the Moon? NASA’s Artemis II mission is open for Hyderabad’s space fans

NASA is inviting people to send their names around the Moon on the Artemis II mission. The free ‘Send Your Name’ campaign allows the public to symbolically join the historic lunar mission by registering online before January 21.

Hyderabad: Want to see your name orbit the Moon? Here is a unique opportunity for all the celestial enthusiasts from Hyderabad to secure a seat and leave the Earth behind, at least symbolically!

Amateur star gazers can now add their personal touch to deep space by adding their name to the Artemis II mission, which is traveling further than any human has gone so far.

---

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is officially closing the manifest for its ‘Send Your Name’ campaign on January 21. The initiative allows members of the public to upload their names to a microchip that will fly aboard Artemis II, the first mission to carry humans to the lunar vicinity since the Apollo era.

In a unique engagement campaign titled ‘A Seat for Everyone’, which has already gone viral, NASA has called for interested individuals to submit their names, which will be stored on an SD card that will fly inside the Orion spacecraft when the Artemis II mission launches, most likely on February 6, 2026, from Florida.

The unique campaign has already attracted names of over 1.5 million from all corners of the globe. Commenting on the unique initiative of sending names around the moon, a NASA spokesperson in a statement said, “Artemis II is an opportunity to inspire people across the globe and give them a chance to follow along as we lead the way in human exploration.”

The Artemis II, slated for launch as early as April 2026, will carry four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The 10-day journey will take the Orion spacecraft in a ‘figure-eight’ trajectory around the far side of the Moon, pushing the spacecraft along with your name further into deep space than any crew-rated vehicle has ever traveled.

The registration to be a part of the unique initiative is free and takes less than a minute. Users simply visit the NASA Artemis website, enter their name and a custom PIN, and are immediately issued a digital boarding pass featuring their name and mission details.