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Author Topic:   Naming the International Space Station (ISS)
Tykeanaut
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Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 08-11-2011 09:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
According to Space.com, the NASA programme manager for the ISS thinks it's about time it had an official name.
"We started talking years ago about naming ISS," Mike Suffredini, NASA's International Space Station program manager, told SPACE.com. "You know, we've been busy building it. We haven’t been worrying about what we're going to call it."

"Now is about the time that I would guess it might surface back again and we might start thinking, what do we want to call this thing?" Suffredini said.

Any suggestions?

Fra Mauro
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Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 08-11-2011 09:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It seems silly to name something that has been operational for so long. ISS is just fine.

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

posted 08-11-2011 09:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"Konstantin Tsiolkovsky".

It was he who said, "Man cannot stay in his cradle forever." The ISS is, perhaps, the first tottering step out of the cradle.

Hart Sastrowardoyo
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Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 08-11-2011 09:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Skylab project had Skylab, the Salyut project had Salyut... what's wrong with ISS? Unless we want to stimulate the economy by appointing a panel of 17 people (the 16 countries that either built or operate ISS plus one tie-breaker) to come up with a name that's not offensive to any of those countries.

GACspaceguy
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Posts: 2475
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 08-11-2011 11:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for GACspaceguy   Click Here to Email GACspaceguy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
ISS works for me.

sts205cdr
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Posts: 649
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 08-11-2011 11:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sts205cdr   Click Here to Email sts205cdr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Didn't Shep name it "Alpha"?

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-11-2011 12:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From Francis French's 2002 profile of Bill Shepherd:
Shepherd felt the station should be named as early as possible, to bring success to the voyage and good luck to the crew. Having pressed for a decision to be made for years before the flight, he decided to take matters into his own hands once onboard.

Krikalev agreed with his choice of "Alpha" — it was neither Russian nor English, instead going back to the common root of both languages. In Greek mythology, it was the high point to which humans could ascend to achieve contact with the heavens.

In the first few hours aboard the station, Shepherd put NASA's Administrator, Dan Goldin, on the spot with a request to name the station. Goldin grudgingly agreed that Alpha could be the call sign for the duration of Shepherd's stay.

Fra Mauro
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Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 08-11-2011 12:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Alpha would have been fine... wonder why Golden didn't keep it.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-11-2011 12:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
One of the problems cited with Alpha was that it implied that the ISS was the first space station, when Salyut, Skylab and the Mir stations preceded it.

413 is in
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Posts: 628
From: Alexandria, VA USA
Registered: May 2006

posted 08-11-2011 01:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 413 is in   Click Here to Email 413 is in     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Since it's the 4th, my vote would be to name it Space Station ZoSo.

Blackarrow
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Posts: 3120
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-11-2011 04:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Fourth station....call it "Delta."

Jay Chladek
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Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007

posted 08-12-2011 03:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jay Chladek   Click Here to Email Jay Chladek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 413 is in:
Since it's the 4th, my vote would be to name it Space Station ZoSo.
And would that be because it is the "Stairway to Heaven"?

Maybe they should call the station KISS!

Why? Because Clay Anderson's call letters for when he did music on orbit were K-ISS. And people would think about it whenever they see Gene Simmons doing his thing.

Max Q
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Posts: 399
From: Whyalla South Australia
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 08-12-2011 06:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Max Q   Click Here to Email Max Q     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well I think they should call it Bob... Just sayin.

328KF
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posted 08-12-2011 10:24 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for 328KF   Click Here to Email 328KF     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If NASA is going to put a name on it, they should have a contest involving students similar to what they did with Endeavour. It helps focus attention on the program when it really needs it and gets kids involved.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-12-2011 10:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 328KF:
If NASA is going to put a name on it...
As the Space.com article explains, it's not up to NASA alone.
But the decision will be complicated, as it must be agreed on by all the space station's international partners: Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe.

"It really is a partnership decision," Suffredini said. "We can't just go name things."

Of course, that doesn't rule out a naming contest open to children in all the partner nations...

328KF
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posted 08-12-2011 10:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for 328KF   Click Here to Email 328KF     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Of course! The Russians have shown some precedent with this having school kids participate in patch designs for Soyuz crews. I would imagine that the cultural differences would allow for some very interesting suggestions, but at the same time, introduce some difficulty in agreement.

MarylandSpace
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Posts: 1336
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Registered: Aug 2002

posted 08-12-2011 11:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MarylandSpace   Click Here to Email MarylandSpace     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think it could be called "Fred."

Just my suggestion.

Fra Mauro
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Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 08-12-2011 11:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
ISS is much better than spending money on a multi-national commission that would choose a name than likely wouldn't satisfy most.

star61
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Posts: 294
From: Bristol UK
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 08-12-2011 03:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for star61   Click Here to Email star61     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In the well known international competition for the world's loudest "shout", all the participants have to shout out the word "Suey". Apparently it means nothing and is easily pronounced by all tongues.

So ISS is perhaps the world's first big combined shout at the universe. So I vote for... Suey Station 1.

I may have my tongue in my cheek a wee bit...

Jay Chladek
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Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007

posted 08-13-2011 10:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jay Chladek   Click Here to Email Jay Chladek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well we could call it COLBERT.... nawww, thats been done.

All things considered, I think it should still be the ISS since it was known by that for over half its operational proposed lifespan (assuming it stays up until 2020).

All the good names for a station have been taken by the nodes (Harmony, Unity, Destiny). Of course if they called the ISS Unity, that would be a bit too close to the station from the Sky TV series "Space Island One"

Hart Sastrowardoyo
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Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 08-14-2011 09:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Alpha is the high point... hmmm... why not Zenith, then? Aside from Americans saying that RCA didn't build the space station....

Fezman92
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Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010

posted 08-14-2011 10:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fezman92   Click Here to Email Fezman92     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Serenity

Tykeanaut
Member

Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 08-14-2011 11:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A friend of mine likes "Space Station Clarke" after Arthur C. himself. He actually wrote to NASA and the BIS with this suggestion. Biased I know but I'd probably go along with that although to be fair the Brits have contributed little.

All times are CT (US)

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