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Ky. writer and U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón’s poetry will have a galactic reach

U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón looks as the camera against a dark background. She is wearing a black blouse and a necklace.
Lucas Marquardt
/
Randy Toy Photographicaction.com
U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón will write a poem to be engraved on the side of a spacecraft scheduled to go into space in 2024.

Kentucky writer and U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón’s work will be among the stars in 2024.

An original work by Limón will be engraved on the side of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission spacecraft.

The purpose of the mission is to exploreJupiter’s icy moon, Europa. Europa has a large internal ocean, and NASA aims to use the craft to determine if that makes it suitable for life.

“Water is such an essential element to us on earth that it only feels natural to want to explore another place that holds so much mystery and so much water,” Limón said in a video announcing the collaboration.

She described Europa as a “sister water world” and will dedicate the poem to the mission itself.

Limón’s poem will be released this spring, and the Europa Clipper mission is set to launch in Oct. 2024.

Breya Jones is the Arts & Culture Reporter for LPM. Email Breya at bjones@lpm.org.