The Planetary Society keeps coming up with neat perks. Through my membership with them I've gotten invitations to go on some nifty expeditions (that's how I ended up going to Antarctica in 1999), and a couple years ago my name got put on a space probe, Stardust, that's currently on its way to meet a comet.

Today, I found out that my name is now going to Mars! The new Mars Rover is taking a mini-DVD with my name (and over 3.5 million other names (grin)) with it. What a cool idea!

For more info on the mission, check here:
 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/

To search for other names (no partial matches, you have to type it in exactly), check here:
 http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/2003/namequery.htm

Elonka's Going to Mars! -- Well, her name is . . .