In 2014 Michael Jackson fans submitted the singer’s name for inclusion on NASA’s Orion spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a two-orbit, four-hour test flight. Orion was built to take humans further into space than they’ve ever gone before. The test carried with it the names of all those who registered for a ‘boarding pass’ on the NASA website. Michael Jackson’s name was registered over 60 times by fans from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Tunisia, UK and the US.

All in all it was a pretty good effort, I think – with thanks to the fans who first promoted the idea and posted the link – and is a reflection of Michael’s view of himself as a global citizen, one with an abiding interest in space travel, space movies and space real estate, apparently.

In 2017 the opportunity arose again to submit names for NASA’s InSight lander, which will study the deep interior of Mars to advance humanity’s understanding of the early history of all rocky planets, including Earth. [1]  Once again fans quickly responded to have Michael’s name included on the flight.

While the attraction of having Michael Jackson’s name on an operational NASA craft may be obvious to his fans, others may be wondering “What’s the connection?”  There are many, actually.

This is the man who loved movies like Star Wars and ET (as quoted in his autobiography), who provided the narration for the ET Storybook album (1982) and the song “Someone in the Dark” [2]; who starred as the leader of a band of intergalactic misfits (who would have been quite at home in Star Wars’ Mos Eisley cantina) in the 3D Disney feature Captain Eo. [3] [4]

At the end of his Dangerous tour concerts, Michael appeared to take off from the stage via a jet pack, and at the commencement of his HIStory tour concerts, “crash-landed” on the stage in a space capsule.

Of course, his “Scream” video, which is famous for being “the most expensive music video ever made” features an ambitious recreation of a spaceship interior, and includes “zero-G” gravity scenes.

Meteorite hunter Rob Elliott sold a piece of meterioite to Michael Jackson in 2003 according to media reports and an auction listing. [5] [6]

We can confidently assume then, that space was a theme that interested Michael Jackson.

On his personal website, Uri Geller wrote in his tribute to Michael: “One exceptional memory will never leave me. Michael had a magical imagination, filled with Hollywood images and children’s dreams. The immediate thing that struck me when I walked into his hotel suite at our first meeting was the immense poster of E.T. bicycling over a full moon. Beside it stood an eight-foot cardboard cutout of Anakin Skywalker, peeping from behind the robes of Darth Maul. Michael adored the concept of space travel — even his trademark dance was called the Moonwalk. And when the prospect of a rocket voyage to the moon itself became a brief, tantalising reality, Michael was like a rich kid in a sweet shop — he wanted it all and he wanted it now.

“I have an answerphone message, recorded at about 3am, with Michael’s whisper barely audible above the transatlantic crackle: ‘Uri Geller, this is Michael Jackson calling. Please, I wish, I pray that we do the moon trip. I want to be the first one to do it in the pop world. All these people are trying to do it, I want to be first! Please! I love you.’” [7]

According to Jackson biographer Jos Borsboom, “Michael was already in advanced talks with a space scientist in a desperate bid to do the moonwalk on the moon.  Michael became obsessed with beating his pop star rivals into space.  He wanted to top them by actually making it to the moon to do his famous dance move – in a ten-year $2 billion… project.” [8]

Tributes to Michael Jackson following his passing in June 2009 included a moon crater named after him by the Lunar Republic Society, which promotes the exploration, settlement and development of the Moon.  According to one media report “The 13.5 metre-wide site, formerly Posidonius J, is in the Lake of Dreams, next to a 1,200 acre plot owned by Jackson, which he bought at the cost of $27.40 (£17) per acre.”

The article further explains that Michael Jackson “was reported to have been one of the largest lunar landowners, [having] bought his plot in 2005.”  He also owned a smaller parcel in the Sea of Vapours.

The news report advises that the Michael Joseph Jackson crater is visible from Earth using a typical home telescope under standard observational conditions, and that “Jackson’s work was heavily influenced by the moon, from his trademark ‘moonwalk’ dance, his autobiography called Moonwalk and an unreleased song called Scared Of The Moon.

“A spokesman for the society said: ‘The official designation of a Lunar crater is a singular honour bestowed upon only a select few luminaries.  Among those receiving this rare tribute over the past century are Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, Sir Isaac Newton, Julius Caesar and Jules Verne.’” [9]

At least one group of fans, based in Adelaide, Australia, went a step further (as in further out in space) and submitted Michael’s Star to Sydney Observatory’s ”Name-A-Star” program to coincide with the second anniversary of Michael’s passing and World Cry event in 2011.  This project was organized by fan Helena Willcox in the knowledge that it was something that would have pleased Michael.

As one of those who submitted Michael’s name for NASA’s Mission to Mars Insight lander, I, too, do so in the expectation that it is something he would have loved.

Kerry Hennigan
October 2017