Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!db.toronto.edu!hogg From: hogg@db.toronto.edu (John Hogg) Subject: Re: Shuttle orbiter-naming competition Message-ID: <8807121414.AA00973@tango.db.toronto.edu> Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI References: <11378@ames.arc.nasa.gov> <46000001@hobbiton> Date: Tue, 12 Jul 88 08:54:48 EDT I cynically suspect that the powers-that-be have already selected the name that they want for the new shuttle. Now they're just waiting for a sufficiently cute set of kids to come up with it too, but in any case... Given the current interest in crew safety, how about ``Endurance''? For those who miss the reference, this was Shackleton's vessel on his 1914 expedition to Antarctica. It was crushed in the ice, and a phenomenal story of seamanship followed. The entire crew dragged and sailed the ship's boats to a suitable wintering spot. Then, a few men (among them Shackleton and his sailing master Worsley) sailed an open boat to Elephant Island, and finally crossed a range of ``impassable'' mountains and glaciers on foot to reach the whaling station. Shackleton then had to make several attempts to get a rescue vessel through the ice to the remainder of his party. Not a single man was lost. That ``failed expedition'' stands as one of the greatest successes in polar exploration. No, the name will never fly, but it deserves a place on the short list... -- John Hogg | hogg@csri.toronto.{edu,cdn} Computer Systems Research Institute| uunet!csri.toronto.edu!hogg University of Toronto | hogg%csri.toronto.edu@relay.cs.net (arpa) | hogg@csri.utoronto (bitnet)