Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 07-26-2013 04:50 AM               

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Call it the ramblings of a senile mind, but it occurs to me that ever since mechanical structures were built those associated with them have referred to them as 'she'. Ships, aircraft and cars are the obvious examples. In fact, my current car - a blue Toyota - is affectionately called 'Janet' after my late partner.

With this in mind, does anyone know if spacecraft, both manned and unmanned, were ever referred to as 'she' by those that built, serviced, controlled, or flew them? Is it possible that a question such as, "How's Voyager 2 doing?" is answered by, "Oh! She's fine.".

Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002

Posts: 1463
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010

Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-28-2013 10:15 AM               

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For what it is worth, some of the Boeing engineers working on CST-100 refer to the capsule as "him."

Shuttle managers, technicians, engineers and astronauts alternated between "it" and "her," depending on the person.

From an editorial viewpoint, all spacecraft are inanimate objects and therefore are always referred to as "it."

Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999