— The first "extra-large" U.S. commercial spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station now has a name fitting of its stature.

Northrop Grumman on Monday (Aug. 18) revealed that its first Cygnus XL pressurized cargo module will fly under name of fallen NASA space shuttle pilot William "Willie" C. McCool.

"It's our tradition here at Northrop Grumman to name the spacecraft used for the commercial resupply services to the International Space Station after space pioneers," said Dan Tani, program manager for human exploration operations, in a video statement. "Today, it is my honor to announce the name of the upcoming NG-23 mission to the International Space Station in the memory of my friend and astronaut, Willie McCool."

A former NASA astronaut, himself, Tani was chosen in 1996 with the same class as McCool, Group 16, dubbed "The Sardines."

"Willie and I were office mates and our desks were right next to each other," said Tani. "So I got to know Willie from day one, and our lives and careers progressed through NASA at the same time, and so I consider him one of my best friends."

A naval aviator, McCool was named the pilot on space shuttle Columbia's STS-107 crew, which launched into orbit on a 16-day science mission on Jan. 16, 2003.

"STS-107 had an incident on launch that nobody was aware of that doomed the mission for its re-entry, and so we lost Columbia on Feb., 1 of 2003," said Tani.

McCool, 41, and his six crewmates — commander Rick Husband, 45; mission specialists David Brown, 46; Kalpana "KC" Chawla, 40; Michael Anderson, 43; and Laurel Clark, 41; as well as payload specialist Ilan Ramon, 48, of Israel — died in the tragedy just 16 minutes before their expected safe landing in Florida.

"Following in the footsteps of pioneers like Willie McCool, means not only carrying the technical knowledge and all of the responsibility of it, but also the passion," said Alexa Duarte, a mechanical integration and testing intern at Northrop Grumman. "The love for curiosity, going out there, trying to figure out what's out there and advancing human exploration."

As the first Cygnus XL, the "S.S. William 'Willie' C. McCool" is a larger, more capable version of the solar-powered spacecraft that has delivered more than 148,000 pounds (67,000 kilograms) of science equipment and crew supplies to the space station since 2014. The NG-23 mission is targeted to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in mid-September.

In addition to food, supplies and equipment for the Expedition 74 crew, Cygnus will deliver materials to produce semiconductor crystals and equipment to improve cryogenic fuel tanks. The McCool will also carry a specialized UV light system to prevent biofilm growth and supplies to produce pharmaceutical crystals that could treat cancer and other diseases.

Before becoming the namesake for a spacecraft, McCool was honored with the christening of a crater on the moon, a hill on Mars and an asteroid. His name was also added to multiple schools, an aviation waypoint and a shuttlecraft as part of the fictional Star Trek franchise.

The S.S. William "Willie" C. McCool will be the fourth Cygnus to fly under the name of a member of the STS-107 crew, following the S.S. Rick Husband in 2016, S.S. Kalpana Chawla in 2020 and S.S. Laurel Clark in 2023.

Other namesakes have included company executive J.R. Thompson, Air Force Manned Orbiting Lab candidate Robert Lawrence, NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson and NASA astronauts David Low, Gordon Fullerton, Janice Voss, Deke Slayton, Alan Poindexter, John Glenn, Gene Cernan, John Young, Roger Chaffee, Alan Bean, Piers Sellers, Sally Ride and Patricia Robertson.

The most recent Cygnus, the S.S. Francis R. 'Dick' Scobee, was named for the commander of the ill-fated final flight of space shuttle Challenger. It was launched on the NG-21 mission in August 2024 and, six months later, was destroyed during re-entry in March 2025. (Northrop Grumman canceled the NG-22 mission after its Cygnus was damaged during its transportation to the launch site.)