TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Monday's amazing landing on Mars was incredible and history-making.

  • People's names 'dropped' onto Mars on InSight spacecraft
  • Names etched onto microchip, installed onto lander

But for some people here on Earth, they too -- in a way -- traveled to the Red Planet. It kind of makes you want to “name drop.”

"I found out yesterday that our names are actually on the plaque," said Titusville's Tyler Trawle, who along with  brother Jack, didn't know until after landing that their grandfather Tim Gagnon had submitted their names as part of the NASA InSight lander mission.

They are among those whose names were etched on two microchips and installed on the robotic lander.

Tyler couldn't wait to tell his friends at school Tuesday.

"I told them all about it, and I wish I brought my boarding pass to show them," Tyler told Spectrum News when we spoke to him at Titusville's Space View Park.

To know his name traveled millions of miles on the historic spacecraft and is now a fixture on Mars makes him very excited.

What also makes him excited is the fact that people may one day live on Mars too, launching rockets from the Space Coast.

"Boarding pass" for the NASA Insight lander mission.
"Boarding pass" for the NASA Insight lander mission.