There is an asteroid bearing Louis Braille's name

In 1999, a NASA-discovered asteroid originally known as 1992 KD and renamed in honor of Louis Braille. As suggested by Kerry Babcock, an engineer at Kennedy Space Center, the asteroid is known as 9969Braille. After the NASA probe Deep Space 1 flew by the asteroid, the name was changed. The orbit of the asteroid 9969 Braille is significantly inclined relative to the ecliptic plane of the planets and rotates just once every nine days.

At the Kennedy Space Center, Mr. Babcock works as a software engineer. He started learning how to write in braille a few years ago and was astonished by Louis Braille's accomplishment. In a sense, the spacecraft that is currently circling the sun is also named "Braille," the daughter that Mr. Babcock gave the name.

The winning entry was made by Kerry Babcock of Port Orange, Florida. His reference reads: "Louis Braille invented the Braille language so those who could not see could obtain knowledge and explore through the 'written' word. Likewise, asteroid Braille provides knowledge about our universe and its origin to the people of Earth, who through Deep Space 1, are also able to explore and discover what previously they could not see.'"