NASA Names New Spacecraft 'Altair'

simonbp writes "NASA's new spacecraft, designed to travel to the Moon and International Space Station, has been christened 'Altair' - 'named after a variable double star in the constellation Aquila.' The crew launch vehicle will be called 'Ares I'; the larger cargo vehicle, 'Ares V'; and the lunar landers will be named after Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Moon and twin sister of Apollo."

Comments

Lies!

[B3ryllium]

It's really named after that planet from that Stargate episode.

With the hard part out of the way...

[Shihar]

...now we just need to create a moon base from scratch, create an inter planetary spaceship that can haul enough food and water to keep a few astronauts alive for a few months, build a ship that will keep the crew alive if a solar storm hits them on the way, get the ship to stop, drop the astronauts into a hostile gravity well, do some science, get back up out of the hostile gravity well, get back into the ship, turn it around, and survive the voyage home. Oh yeah, one more thing I forgot. They need to fund this, the subcontractors, the workers, and the deal with a cost of a few thousand dollars per kilogram sent up.

But hey, at least they got the hard part out of the way; figuring out names.

This post is a perfect example. It took my a hell of a lot less time to spit out a dozen or so challenges they still face then it did to think up a good title. Way to go NASA! You are almost there.

Re:atremis is diana , not a moon-good

[the unbeliever]

She was the virgin moon goddess of the hunt, wild animals, healing, wilderness, chastity, and childbirth. She was worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in many places since, according to some myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin.

All this from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis

Gives it away what this is about

[Flying pig]

The crew vehicle is named after the god of war. I always suspected that, deep down, the only interest of the current administration in space is as a way of increasing US military dominance.

That, or NASA is illiterate in the classics. Which I doubt.

But why a variable star? Is that because they expect the program to expand and contract according to the budget, stories on slow news days etc.?

The whole thing about the inflation of names relating to space is more than a little childish. Calling people who barely got out of the Earth's atmosphere "Astronauts" and "Cosmonauts" is a bit like calling a dinghy sailor "Admiral".

Re:Gives it away what this is about

[lorelorn]

Given that Ares, the Greek war god, became the Roman god Mars, I figured the name was an indication of where they would really like to be sending people.

Bad naming scheme guys...

[Firewheels]

Artemis is also a small lunar impact crater located in the Mare Imbrium region of the moon.

NEVER ever name a spacecraft after something resulting after a crash...

how about engineering specification?

[helioquake]

Who gives a flying fark about the name?

How about the specification of the vehicle, instead?

Re:how about engineering specification?

[Keebler71]

Conceptual development of the spacecraft ia actually a lot farther along than most people realize.

Name of spacecraft?

[MichaelSmith]

The title bar of my web browser says:

NASA Names New Spacecraft - Mozilla Firefox

Computers on space craft

[MobyDisk]

Also, due to recent budget constraints, the craft will be controlled by an Altair.

Re:hope for 1st post

[tverbeek]

Trademark exclusivity only applies within a registered category of commerce, and space probes don't compete with publishing houses or game developers. If your buddy's lawyer really is a good person, he'll explain that before turning on the meter for billable hours.