It's no secret, I love space. From following the Mars Lander to cosmic collisions, I call it 'my dark side' along with complex adaptive systems theory. And now's our chance to shuttle up to the moon! Well, sort of... NASA is inviting all of us to send our names along board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) later this year. It's mission:
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is the first mission in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, a plan to return to the moon and then to travel to Mars and beyond. LRO will launch no earlier than November 24, 2008, with the objectives to finding safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology.
Okay, so it's not exactly a personal trip into orbit... but hey, it's one small step closer! The entire database submitted by July 25 will be placed on a microchip in the spacecraft. Check out NASA's LRO website for details.