naming nasas new spaceships

Naming NASA's New Spaceships

There's a contest on to name NASA's proposed new space vehicles: the

crew launch vehicle, the crew exploration vehicle, and the lunar

lander. (Here.) In keeping with NASA's tradition of using names from

Roman or Greek mythology here are some suggestions.

Launch vehicle: Jupiter. The new launch vehicle is intended to send

humans back to the moon and then on to Mars. The Saturn launch vehicle

was the big daddy of all launch vehicles and the first to send humans

to another world. In Roman mythology Saturn is the father of Jupiter,

and Jupiter is the lord of the skies.

Crew Exploration Vehicle: Odysseus or Ulysses. He is the hero of the

Greeks in the Trojan War and the greatest traveler in ancient

mythology. The CEV is intended to take humans on missions of

exploration into the Solar System, perhaps the greatest travel story

in modern history. The Roman version of the name, Ulysses, sounds

better to this American ear and also has roots in American history

with President U. S. Grant. Unfortunately, NASA has already wasted the

name on an unmanned satellite. (Here.) Maybe it'll be dead by the time

the CEV is ready to fly and the name will become available.

The Lunar Lander: Artemis. She is the Greek goddess of the crescent

new moon. Selene is the goddess of the full moon and Hecate is the

goddess of the waning moon. Artemis sounds better and Selene sounds a

bit too much like the name of a certain Canadian pop singer. "Houston,

we have touchdown. The Selene Dion is on the moon."

-tdr

Labels: Leviathan

# posted by tdr : 00:13