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Would you like to send your name into space?
The wonderful Kepler spacecraft pointing towards a distant world.
(Credit: NASA/Kepler Mission)
Be one of the lucky individuals who can actually tell your friends and family: "Hey, my name's in outer space, on the Kepler spacecraft looking for Earth-size planets!"
You only have until Thanksgiving, November 27th, to submit your name, so hurry.
When you submit your name, you may also chose to provide a message of 500 words or less of why you think the mission is important. A copy of the DVD with all of the names and messages will be given to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum as a record of public opinion about the Mission.
Kepler is NASA's first mission capable of detecting Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars.
The Kepler mission will be launched into orbit around the Sun, not the Earth,
with an orbital period of 372 days.
The spacecraft will slowly drift away from the Earth, such that in about 25 years it will be half an Earth orbit away, 300 million kilometers distant from the Earth, passing behind the Sun as viewed from Earth.
Click here to find more about the exciting Kepler mission.
To help you see where the Kepler telescope will be looking for habitable zones and extra solar planets, find a Night Sky Network amateur astronomy club near you.
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