<div id="readability-page-1"><p>(KTLA) – All (names) aboard!</p> <p>As final preparations ramp up for Artemis II — a mission that will send four astronauts farther into space than any crew has ever traveled — NASA is giving the public a chance to take part in the historic journey by sending their names around the moon.</p> <p>Anyone around the world is welcome to submit their names through an online portal to be flown on the Artemis II mission, which NASA’s website says is scheduled to launch no later than April 2026. Submitted names will be stored on a small SD card tucked inside the Orion spacecraft as it makes a roughly 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth.</p> <h3><strong>How it works</strong></h3> <p>To sign up, participants enter their first and last names and create a short personal pin code here. </p> <p>Once submitted, NASA generates a digital Artemis II “boarding pass” — a printable keepsake that makes it feel like you’re officially along for the ride.</p> <p>The boarding pass includes the mission patch, launch site, destination and spacecraft details, listing the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft and Kennedy Space Center as the launch site. It also names the four astronauts flying the mission and even tallies the distance traveled, showing participants they’ll be earning more than 685,000 miles as Orion loops around the moon and back.</p> <p>NASA reminds participants to save their pin code, since it can’t be recovered later if they want to look up or re-download their boarding pass in the future.</p> <div><div><ul><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/artemis-ii-NASA-1.jpg/query-dz05MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/artemis-ii-NASA-1.jpg/query-dz05MDA"/><figcaption>The Artemis II crew is seen in this NASA poster. Created on July 25, 2024. (NASA/Daniel O’Neal)</figcaption></figure></li><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/artemis-ii-NASA.jpg/query-dz05MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/artemis-ii-NASA.jpg/query-dz05MDA"/><figcaption>NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen illuminated by lights at Launch Complex 39B, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA/Keegan Barber)</figcaption></figure></li><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/01/659db2cced80e6.96945136.jpeg/query-dz05MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/01/659db2cced80e6.96945136.jpeg/query-dz05MDA"/><figcaption>FILE – Artemis II crew members, from left, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, stand together at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in front of an Orion crew module on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. On Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, NASA said astronauts will have to wait until 2025 before flying to the moon and another few years before landing on it. (Kim Shiflett/NASA via AP, File)</figcaption></figure></li><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/12/AP24340766397409-e1733436171453.jpg/query-dz04MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/12/AP24340766397409-e1733436171453.jpg/query-dz04MDA"/><figcaption>This image provided by NASA shows the Artemis II Orion spacecraft lifted from the Final Assembly and Testing (FAST) Cell and placed in the west altitude chamber inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’S Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on June 28, 2024, for a series of tests simulating deep space vacuum conditions. (Rad Sinyak/NASA via AP)</figcaption></figure></li><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/04/artemis_nasa_040323getty_nasa.jpg/query-dz05MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/04/artemis_nasa_040323getty_nasa.jpg/query-dz05MDA"/><figcaption>(L-R) Astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Hammock Koch hug fellow astronauts after being selected for the Artemis II mission during a news conference at Ellington airport in Houston, Texas, on April 3, 2023. (Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></li><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/11/nasa-4.jpg/query-dz05MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/11/nasa-4.jpg/query-dz05MDA"/><figcaption>Victor Glover, a Pomona native and NASA astronaut, prepares for the Artemis II mission in 2024. (NASA)</figcaption></figure></li><li><figure><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/11/nasa-5.jpg/query-dz05MDA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/11/nasa-5.jpg/query-dz05MDA"/><figcaption>Victor Glover, a Pomona native and NASA astronaut, prepares for the Artemis II mission in 2024. (NASA)</figcaption></figure></li></ul></div></div> <h3><strong>Who’s flying — and how far</strong></h3> <p>Artemis II will be the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program and the first time that humans fly aboard the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.</p> <p>The four-person crew includes:</p> <ul> <li>Reid Wiseman, commander</li> <li>Victor Glover, pilot</li> <li>Christina Koch, mission specialist</li> <li>Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist</li> </ul> <p>After liftoff, the crew will spend the first couple of days checking out Orion’s systems near Earth. </p> <p>The spacecraft’s service module will then fire its engines for what is called a translunar injection burn, which will send the astronauts out of Earth’s orbit and onto a four-day journey toward the moon.</p> <p>The trajectory will carry the crew around the far side of the moon in a figure-eight path, taking them more than 230,000 miles from Earth — including roughly 4,600 miles beyond the moon itself — farther than any human crew has ever traveled.</p> <h3><strong>More than a flyby</strong></h3> <p>While Artemis II will not land on the moon, officials say it is a critical test flight. Astronauts will manually handle the spacecraft, evaluate life-support systems and validate key hardware needed for future lunar landings. Several payloads flying aboard Artemis II will also gather data on space radiation, human health and deep-space communications.</p> <p>At the end of the mission, Orion will make a high-speed reentry through Earth’s atmosphere before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, where NASA and Department of Defense teams will recover the crew and spacecraft.</p> <h3><strong>A small name, a big milestone</strong></h3> <p>NASA says Artemis II is a major step toward returning humans to the moon — and eventually sending astronauts to Mars. For the public, the name-submission campaign offers a fun, symbolic way to be part of that next chapter in space exploration. Over 1.8 million boarding passes have been claimed as of Monday afternoon.</p> <p>It may just be a name on a chip, but in 2026, it’ll be flying past the moon and back — complete with a boarding pass to prove it.</p></div>

<p>NASA's Artemis II mission, set to launch by April 2026, invites the public to submit their names to be flown around the moon. Participants can register online, receiving a digital boarding pass as a keepsake. The mission will carry four astronauts on a 10-day journey, testing systems for future lunar landings. This mission marks a significant step towards returning humans to the moon and eventually to Mars, with a focus on evaluating life-support systems and gathering data on space conditions.</p>

NASA's upcoming mission is offering to 'send your name around the moon'