To the moon, Alice ...

By Times staff | Friday, June 20, 2008

Here’s  a chance to head to the moon without even leaving home. Sign up at NASA’s “Send Your Name to the Moon” Web site by Friday, June 27, and your name will be stamped on a microchip installed on a lunar spacecraft that will explore the moon for years.

The site has logged more than 830,000 names so far. NASA’s goal is 1 million.

“It’s kind of a nifty thing to get the public engaged,” said Richard Gilbrech, the agency’s associate administrator for exploration systems.

The chip will be placed on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that will map the moon’s surface and eventually help pick sites for a lunar outpost. NASA plans to launch the orbiter no earlier than Nov. 24.

The project generated wide interest after NASA posted a “My Name is on the Moon” video on YouTube and promoted the project on its home Web page and on Facebook as well as other social networking sites.

Stephanie Stockman, who coordinates education outreach for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, said about eight people per minute type in their names during the day.

“The moon is very engaging because anyone can see it,” she said. “You look out in the sky and it’s there, no matter how much light pollution you have. It’s something very familiar to us.”

It costs nothing to type in a name at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html. You then have the option of printing a personalized certificate.