Sixth-grader names Mars rover 'Curiosity'

PASADENA, Calif., June 9 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old student from Kansas has signed her name on the next Mars rover.

Monday's trip to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., was the sixth-grade student's prize for winning an essay competition in which she named the rover "Curiosity."

The student from Sunflower Elementary school in Lenexa, Kan., also received a tour of the JPL, along with her parents and sister, NASA said.

Inside the building where the Curiosity rover is being assembled, Clara donned a protective outfit called a "bunny suit" to step into a cleanroom and sign her name on the rover. The trip to was provided by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.