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Image of Europa Clipper between Jupiter and the moon Europa, with text, "Final Boarding Call! Send your Name to Jupiter's Moon.

Add Your Signature to “Message in a Bottle” and Help Us Get to 2 Million!

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Since the beginning of June, NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign has offered poetry lovers and space fans the opportunity to be a special part of their Europa Clipper mission, set to travel to Jupiter’s second moon starting next fall. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s poem, “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” will be engraved on the spacecraft, along with a microchip that has the names of all those who have signed their name to the poem. As NASA states, “The poem connects the two water worlds—Earth, yearning to reach out and understand what makes a world habitable, and Europa, waiting with secrets yet to be explored.”

NASA and Ada officially launched the campaign at a Library of Congress event, and according to the agency, the tweet that hosted the live stream had 1.2+ million views. Almost 40,000 people watched the stream in real time, and over 162,000 watched the stream after it was done—all impressive numbers.

Our NASA friends initially said the campaign should garner at least 1 million signatures. Well, I’m happy to report that “Message in a Bottle” reached that mark at the end of last month, and with more than a month to go! NASA followed up with the millionth person to sign up for the “Message in a Bottle” campaign: Hannah from Canberra, Australia, who wrote her own poem for the mission. Now, a week later, the number of signatures has dramatically climbed—to over 1.6 million. Please help us reach our new goal of 2 million signatures by December 31st, and make sure your name travels with “In Praise of Mystery” the 1.8 billion miles to explore Europa.

Adding your name to the laureate’s poem is easy: just visit the “Message in a Bottle” sign on page and go from there.

In case you need more encouragement, here’s a NASA video that shows how your name will fly aboard the spaceship. If you want to hear more about Ada’s experience writing the poem, listen to her discuss with poet Major Jackson on “The Slowdown” (a show launched as part of Tracy K. Smith’s laureateship, and once hosted by Ada).

A Europa Clipper "Boarding Pass" for Snoopy
Snoopy’s Europa Clipper “Boarding Pass.” Credit: NASA.

We’re not the only ones who want to see you sign on to Ada’s poem . . . Snoopy and Elmo do too! And Big Bird even wrote a response to Ada’s poem—which, as you can imagine, is another first for Ada and the laureateship.

Comments (33)

  1. Thanks

  2. Let’s get together in peace!

  3. We are never alone.

  4. Safe travels!

  5. I was necessary. And so were you!

  6. May the brave journey of exploration into the unknown meet fearless joy and respectful satisfaction in new discovery. May these discoveries continue to value and nurture the importance of coexisting with future generations of mankind.

  7. I’ve always loved going to the ocean. I’ll never get to the one on Europa, but at least my name will!

  8. Rough calloused fingers,
    Humans awkwardly darn the sky –
    Selene is visible in the hole…

    Distant dark serenity,
    The patch lies crookedly on top –
    Where are you, Venus and Mars?

    Farewell to the hills of the Earth,
    Sky’s canvas has been cast aside –
    Meet the waters of Europa!

  9. May Earth be filled with Happiness, Love and Joy!
    Warm hugs from 2023!
    Lienhua

  10. Good luck!

  11. Hello out there.

  12. Peace to the Universe

  13. “Either we are alone in the universe,
    or we are not.
    Either possibility is staggering.”

    Peace and Joy!

  14. Words live in a spiritual and organic place where we can see all of ourselves among society with others.
    Thank you for this project.

  15. If there is to be peace on Earth, let it begin with me.

  16. Let’s travel in peace and friendship!

  17. “A need to call out in the dark” Definitely needed at this time…

  18. Rock and Read!

  19. If we have not made ourselves extinct, by the time this is read…come by a see us (humans) on Earth. The third rocky planet from our sun.

  20. Peace to all

  21. Illuminate through lights and understanding

  22. Looking for intelligent life.

  23. They are out there, somewhere.

  24. Let PEACE be the bond that unites us all.

  25. Keep looking UP!!

  26. Another giant leap for mankind.

  27. Hello. Thank you NASA for shining the world. Let us welcome everyone!
    Gerard

  28. Dear Robert Casper,

    Thank you for sharing this opportunity with me. Even though I don’t have the ability to physically write or sign a letter, I am happy to offer my spiritual support! I hope you are trying to reach 2 million

  29. Peace to all everywhere!

  30. What is the point for adding g our names? Is there something else to this? I’m being very sincere. I think it’s so neat but, also questionable.

  31. To our neighbors in space “Live long and prosper”

  32. thank you all we are all together…

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