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posted 08-03-2008 02:55 PM            

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I've actually been curious about this for awhile — there are some good nicknames given to the Apollo lunar modules and command modules. Which were your favorites?

My favorite individual name is Eagle (although I also like Gumdrop), so I do like Eagle/Columbia. However, I admit to favoring Charlie Brown and Snoopy just because it's clever and adorable. As the cartoon characters belong together, so do their counterparts (at least up to a certain point).

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posted 08-03-2008 05:41 PM               

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I suppose my favorites would be Gumdrop and Spider, only because they were really the only nicknames to take into account the vehicle themselves. All the others were chosen for other symbolic reasons, but were somewhat detached from the spacecraft.

That said, Snoopy and Charlie Brown win the prize for the best way to capture the public's attention.

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posted 08-03-2008 07:15 PM            

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As a Yankee fan, when I think Yankee Clipper, I think Joe D. I guess I should think like a Navy man instead!

Kitty Hawk is a good name, but it doesn't relate to Antares — it's an odd combo (so are Endeavor and Falcon and Casper/Orion).

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posted 08-03-2008 07:41 PM               

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Odyssey and Aquarius certainly captured the "spacey" feel. I think these names best evoked the grandeur and strangeness of the cislunar environment.

So tough to pick, as the crews really spanned a long way from historic exploration to popular culture. I think the variety itself makes the series unlike any other historic list of names.

But as I'm retired Air Force, Apollo 15 is a sentimental favorite.

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posted 08-03-2008 08:14 PM               

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Gumdrop and Spider are still my favorites with Charlie Brown and Snoopy a close second.

Of the more serious names, Endeavour and Falcon get my vote though as both are cool names.

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posted 08-03-2008 11:11 PM               

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I personally think that Charlie Brown and Snoopy were the best PR names, but for the CM I think that Odyssey was the best (spacey feel, and ironically meaning "a voyage filled with many changes in fortune).

As for the LM, Spider is the best, since the LM does look like a Spider in a way.

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posted 08-04-2008 08:42 PM            

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Somewhere in my random-order files, I have a NASA document from early 1969 that says the Apollo 11 crew were using the placeholder call-signs "Snowcone" and "Haystack" for the command module and lunar module, respectively, in their joint spacecraft simulations. These may even have been generic names for all Apollo missions, until mission-specific names were selected.

In the book, "First on the Moon," the LIFE magazine writers Gene Farmer and Dora Jane Hamblin reported that the Apollo 11 crewmen, their wives and associates toyed with a long list of paired names: "Romeo and Juliet", "Antony and Cleopatra", "Daphnis and Chloe", "Apollo and Daphne", "Amos and Andy" (!!), "Castor and Pollux", "David and Goliath", "Owl and Pussycat", and "Majestic and Moondancer". "Eagle" was inspired by the crew patch, and "Columbia" occurred to everyone simultaneously.

According to my new favorite source, Newspaperarchive.com, in Feb. 1970, the name of the Apollo 13 lunar module was publicly announced as "Aquarius" and the command module, "Auriga." In March 1970, "after considerable debate," the command module was renamed "Odyssey" because "Auriga" was proving difficult to understand clearly over the scratchy radio links.

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posted 08-04-2008 08:59 PM               

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Is there any anecdotal evidence of what the Apollo 18 CM and LM would have been named (from Dick Gordon, Vance Brand, and/or Jack Schmitt)? Or did things never get that far before the mission was cancelled?

Personally, my favorites would have been Constellation and Galileo (second choice: Constitution and Beagle).

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posted 08-04-2008 09:20 PM            

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As an aside, I've been using the CM/LM callsigns as the internal project codenames for the version 4.x development cycles of the software I code at work.

Version 4.0 was "Kitty Hawk," version 4.1 was "Yankee Clipper," and version 4.2 (currently in development) is "Intrepid."

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posted 08-04-2008 09:51 PM            

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John Charles, thanks for the info! Castor and Pollux would have been an odd choice as they were the twins referenced on the Gemini 8 patch.

Auriga? I have no idea what that means. I'm surprised that Apollo 13 didn't go with another constellation to match up with Aquarius.

I also like the name Endurance (named after Ernest Shackleton's ship). That actually, in retrospect, might have been an appropriate name for Apollo 13's LM (as Shackleton and his men were miraculous survivors, so were Lovell, Sweigert and Haise).

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posted 08-04-2008 11:26 PM            

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quote:

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Originally posted by Betsy:
Auriga? I have no idea what that means.

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Auriga is a constellation in the northern sky. It encompasses the star Capella.

It's also a street in the business complex where my office is located in Ottawa. It intersects with Antares Drive...

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posted 08-04-2008 11:44 PM            

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ed Krutulis:
Did the cancelled Apollo missions 18-20 named crews ever reveal their proposed nicknames that they would have given to their LM and CM?

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I doubt they ever got to that point since none of them were ever officially named to those flights (just targeted by virtue of rotation).

Although, while digging around to see if there actually was anything I did discover something I only vaguely remember hearing about; prior to NASA banning capsule names for Gemini after "Molly Brown", the Gemini 5 crew had decided upon "Lady Bird." I wonder how the president would have felt about that? Of course, everyone knows that Gemini 4 had chosen "American Eagle" before they were told they couldn't use it.

Now here's a question I have: In "From The Earth To The Moon," Dave Scott uses "Albatross" as the LM callsign while training with Lee Silver. I have assumed that it was a scriptwriter's invention to act as a little snide commentary towards Silver on how Scott felt about the geology training. Or is it based on any actual fact? Was it being considered?

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posted 08-06-2008 03:39 AM               

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The other bit about Albatross is that the real birds don't exactly land gracefully. They sort of crash. So I believe that was intended to be some sort of comedy on the part of the scriptwriter (or who knows, Dave might have interjected it himself since he was a technical advisor on the series).

One other interesting bit I noticed is the Apollo 17 names of America and Challenger. Sounds to me like that crew was taking a bit of a metaphorical slant with the name. Even Gene Cernan's comments from the moon spoke of "The challenge of today..." and it is as if he wanted to challenge the people back home to keep exploring rather then leaving the moon behind like we did due to lack of funds. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but looking back at the names today, they seem somewhat appropriate.

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posted 10-24-2017 09:41 AM               

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Reviving an old thread, I always wondered why the Apollo 9 CSM was called "Gumdrop"?

I've just read in an old Wernher von Braun book that it was due to its blue delivery shrink wrap that made it look like a sealed gumdrop candy.

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posted 10-24-2017 10:57 AM               

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Had NASA relented and allowed crews to name their craft by the time Apollo 7 flew, there is a strong possibility that it would have been called Phoenix.

However, this said, as this thread originally asked about nicknames it should be recorded that there was also a strong feeling amongst the crew that it should be called "Rub-a-dub-dub" after the three men in a tub. There was even a suggested mission patch that reflected this name designed by Karen Stafford at the suggestion of Donn Eisele.

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posted 04-16-2018 06:32 AM               

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I noticed that three of the lunar modules were given astronomical call signs. They were -

• Apollo 13 - Aquarius
  
• Apollo 14 - Antares
  
• Apollo 16 - Orion

Does anyone know the story how these call signs were picked? I believe the Apollo 13 LM call sign was chosen because of a popular song in 1970.

But it is unclear to me what the significance of the stars Antares and Orion was to the Apollo 14 and 16 crews.

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