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Author
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Topic: Naming the International Space Station (ISS)
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Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-11-2011 09:11 AM
   
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
Member Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 08-11-2011 09:40 AM
It seems silly to name something that has been operational for so long. ISS is just fine. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 08-11-2011 09:46 AM
"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
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 08-11-2011 09:46 AM
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
Member Posts: 2475
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 08-11-2011 11:35 AM
ISS works for me. |
sts205cdr
Member Posts: 649
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted 08-11-2011 11:40 AM
Didn't Shep name it "Alpha"? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-11-2011 12:02 PM
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
Member Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 08-11-2011 12:27 PM
Alpha would have been fine... wonder why Golden didn't keep it. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-11-2011 12:30 PM
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
Member Posts: 628
From: Alexandria, VA USA
Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-11-2011 01:44 PM
Since it's the 4th, my vote would be to name it Space Station ZoSo.  |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3120
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-11-2011 04:02 PM
Fourth station....call it "Delta." |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 08-12-2011 03:46 AM
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
Member Posts: 399
From: Whyalla South Australia
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 08-12-2011 06:00 AM
Well I think they should call it Bob... Just sayin.  |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-12-2011 10:24 AM
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
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-12-2011 10:30 AM
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
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-12-2011 10:57 AM
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
Member Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 08-12-2011 11:25 AM
I think it could be called "Fred."Just my suggestion. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 08-12-2011 11:39 AM
ISS is much better than spending money on a multi-national commission that would choose a name than likely wouldn't satisfy most. |
star61
Member Posts: 294
From: Bristol UK
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 08-12-2011 03:22 PM
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
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 08-13-2011 10:44 PM
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
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 08-14-2011 09:49 AM
Alpha is the high point... hmmm... why not Zenith, then? Aside from Americans saying that RCA didn't build the space station.... |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 08-14-2011 10:49 AM
Serenity |
Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-14-2011 11:50 AM
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. |
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