Getting up close and personal to the moon and Mars is cool enough, but how about the sun? NASA is about to launch a spacecraft closer to our home star than ever before, and you're welcome aboard. It won't be as scorchingly violent as it sounds, we promise.
Launching in 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is on a mission to get a better understanding of our sun than ever before. The space agency must worry that the probe will get lonely on the approximately 88-million-mile journey, so it's inviting the public to hitch a ride. Er, the names of the public, anyway. NASA is letting anyone submit their name online to be included on a microchip aboard the PSP. The probe, with the microchip in tow, will come within 4 million miles of the sun's surface (for reference, we're about 92 million miles from the sun here on Earth).
You can add your name to the mission by clicking parkersolarbrobe.jhuapl.edu and submitting before April 27, 2018. If you missed sending your name to Mars aboard InSight in October 2017, now's your chance to set sail in space. FYI, William Shatner's name is already locked in for the ride.
parkersolarbrobe.jhuapl.edu