Seriously!*
My boarding passes:
I went in 2014 for the Orion Flight Test.
And I will be going again next year (2018) for the InSight Mission!
Martian-status since 18 October 2014 – exactly 3 years ago.
Frequent flyer yo!
The Mission Patch for both trips:
Orion test flight mission patch, 2014
InSight Mission patch
SO EXCITING!
“What this is about?” you ask.
Well, the gist of it is:
In 2014, the names of 1.38 million people were encoded in a chip and loaded on the Orion spacecraft on its first spaceflight test – including mine. 🙂
See the chip here: https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/6752/
And now, applications were opened on October 2 and until Nov. 1, 2017 for the InSight Mission in 2018. Again, the names will be loaded into a silicon microchip which will fly with InSight for its mission to Mars. I have just submitted my name for this mission! 🙂
Here is an image of the chip mounted on the InSight Lander. They will put this second microchip next to this one.
I may not have “physically” been to Mars, at least I can legitimately say I have (even if it’s just in the form of my name in a microchip) gone where not all names have gone before. 😀
(You can read more about the mission here.)
So, are you going to join me?
Submit your name here: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/insight/
Let’s go to Mars!!!
P.S. NASA plans to develop Orion into a vehicle that could one day carry astronauts into space. Who knows, maybe “frequent flyers” will one-day get to call shotgun on a trip. 😉
Perfect IMPerfections 