Spacecraft and their missions are given descriptive, sometimes technical names, by scientists, engineers and administrators involved. Space agencies sometimes open the naming up to the public or to school children in the form of essay contests.
The entry from Ms. Nina DiMauro's class at Emily Dickinson Elementary School inBozeman, Montana suggesting Ebb and Flow for the twin spacecraft was chosen from entries from 900 classrooms in 45 states.Maria Zuber, principal investigator on the mission commented on the student's research before selecting the names and its appropriateness for a mission measuring gravity.[1]
The nameSojourner was chosen for the Mars Pathfinder rover after a year-long, worldwide competition in which students up to 18 years old were invited to select a heroine and submit an essay about her historical accomplishments. The students were asked to address in their essays how a planetary rover named for their heroine would translate these accomplishments to the Martian environment. Initiated in March 1994 byThe Planetary Society of Pasadena, California, in cooperation with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the contest got under way with an announcement in the January 1995 issue of the National Science Teachers Association's magazineScience and Children, circulated to 20,000 teachers and schools across the nation.[2] The winning essay suggested naming the rover forSojourner Truth was selected from among 3500 essays in a NASA/JPL sponsored contest on a heroine and her accomplishments. The essay selected was by then 12 year old Valerie Ambroise of Bridgeport, CT. The second place prize winner was Deepti Rohatgi, 18, of Rockville, MD, who suggestedMarie Curie. Other popular suggestions includedSacajewea andAmelia Earhart.[3]
During development and construction, the rovers were known as MER-1 (Opportunity) and MER-2 (Spirit). Internally, NASA also uses the mission designations MER-A (Spirit) and MER-B (Opportunity) based on the order of landing on Mars (Spirit first thenOpportunity). The rovers were named through a student essay competition sponsored by NASA, thePlanetary Society andLego. The winning entry was by Sofi Collis, a third-grade Russian-American student from Arizona, who named both rovers.[4]
I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely. At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better. I dreamed I could fly there. In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity.'
— Sofi Collis, age 9
The mission is known as the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover vehicle was named through an essay contest. Finalist names were ranked by the public between March 23–29, 2009 from among Adventure, Amelia, Journey, Perception, Pursuit, Sunrise, Vision, Wonder, and Curiosity.[5] through a public poll on the NASA website.[6] On May 27, 2009, the winning name was announced to beCuriosity from the winning essay by Clara Ma, then a sixth-grader from Kansas.[6][7]
Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.
— Clara Ma, NASA/JPL Name the Rover contest
The working name of "space shuttle" was used throughout the program and spacecraft's development and construction. However,Peter Flanigan, Assistant to the President and Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs to then President Nixon, expressed concern that the word "shuttle" brought to mind 2nd class travel and suggested instead words like "Space Clipper", "Pegasus", and "Starlighter."[8] Shortly after Nixon cemented the "space shuttle" program name in a January 1972 memo announcing the program would proceed.[9]
Originally to be namedConstitution and unveiled onConstitution Day, September 17, 1976, a letter-writing campaign byTrekkies to thenPresidentGerald Ford asked that the orbiter be named after theStarshipEnterprise, featured on the television showStar Trek. Although Ford did not mention the campaign, instead saying he was "partial to the name"Enterprise, he directed NASA officials to change the name.[10][11]
Columbia was named for the historical poetic name for the United States of America, like the explorer ship ofCaptain Robert Gray and theCommand Module ofApollo 11, the first crewed landing on another celestial body.[12]
Challenger was named afterHMSChallenger, a Britishcorvette that was the command ship for theChallenger Expedition, a pioneering global marine research expedition undertaken from 1872 through 1876. TheApollo 17Lunar Module, which landed on the Moon in 1972, was also namedChallenger.
The nameDiscovery was chosen to carry on a tradition based on ships of exploration, primarilyHMSDiscovery, one of the ships commanded by CaptainJames Cook during his third and final major voyage from 1776 to 1779, andHenry Hudson'sDiscovery, which was used in 1610–1611 to exploreHudson Bay and search for aNorthwest Passage. Other ships bearing the name have includedHMSDiscovery of the 1875–1876British Arctic Expedition to the North Pole, andRRSDiscovery, which carried the 1901–1904Discovery Expedition toAntarctica, led byCaptain Scott.
Atlantis is named afterRVAtlantis, a two-masted sailing ship that operated as the primary research vessel for theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966.
The competition began in 1988 and the winning name was announced on May 10, 1989. Contest guidelines had students select a name based on an exploratory or research sea vessel,HMSEndeavour was the overwhelming selection among the 6,154. The Apollo 15 Command Module was also named Endeavour[13]