NASA Names New Spaceship 'Orion'

An anonymous reader writes "NASA's new spaceship that will carry astronauts to the moon and later to Mars has been officially named Orion. NASA confirmed the name after it was accidentally leaked to the media. Previously called the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), Orion will be NASA's main human spaceflight vehicle after the space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. Orion was named after one of the brightest constellations in the entire sky. Earlier this year, the rocket that will launch Orion was named Ares I, and the heavy-lift rocket was named Ares V. NASA hopes the new names will become as familiar as Apollo and Saturn V."

Comments

NASA Loves Stargate

[colonslashslash]

This is proof! A tribute to the recently cancelled SG-1 (although the Orion was part of the Atlantis spin off)

http://gateworld.net/omnipedia/ships/links/orion.s html

Oh look, some straws... I must clutch at them wildly.

Re:The wrong name

[The_REAL_DZA]

Perhaps, but to date only Slim Pickens has actually ridden a nuclear bomb anywhere (and he rode his straight down...) so there's not likely to be the kind of cutthroat controversy usually reserved for the Astronomers -vs- Geologists.

Apollo timeframe

[krell]

"Didn't Apollo go from nothing to guy on the moon in about the same timeframe?"

Yeah, but the fact that it was even that long had to do with Sam Peckinpah and Stanley Kubrick fighting over script details and actors. It took them a while to secure Dykstra for the effects, too.

RUN run run run run.

[the_REAL_sam]

RUN run Run run Run.
Pant Pant Pant Pant Pant.
SWEAT SWEAT SWEAT SWEAT SWEAT.

(Bursts through door)

"It's called Orion!"
"We Know."

Re:Stargate?

[b1t r0t]

you not-quite-kids these days :-)

Besides a constellation, and a well known space project from the 70s, Orion is also where those babe-a-licious green slave girls come from.