Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!tneff
From: tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Shuttle orbiter-naming competition (Forwarded)
Message-ID: <5402@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jul 88 17:02:03 GMT
References: <11378@ames.arc.nasa.gov> <772@noao.UUCP>
Reply-To: tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff)
Organization: Independent Users Guild
Lines: 27

OK, so NASA wants to name the new Orbiter after a research/exploration
ocean vessel.  Clearly the "contest" wherein schoolkids submit names is
just a dog and pony show -- a convenient excuse for an educational
publicity program at the school level -- but that's OK because it's not
a bad pool of names to pick from, after all.  Certainly better than
"Phoenix" or "Christa" or these other maudlin names people think up.

So, the least we can do is establish the pool of candidates!  What are
all the research/exploration ocean vessel names we can think of?  It
seems clear that NASA won't go for grotesquely Catholic or Latin names,
which is going to leave out Columbus, Magellan and such.  Some of the
Victorian ships of the line are a little over-the-top too -- OV105 will
not be named Invincible or Impenetrable or anything like that.  Ixnay
the Russians too, I'd bet.

So we're left, mostly, with American and (tamer) British names.  It
would be nice to see a list of candidates.  There are some other
alternatives, though: Calypso and Nautilus come to mind.  Nautilus is
still in service (although my suggestion really refers to Verne's
fictitous vessel), so I bet NASA wouldn't use it.  Calypso is still
active, but never with the USN, so it might stand a chance, but I doubt
it.  They are nice names though.  Better than Thresher, Poseidon,
Conshelf, Glomar Explorer, and Rainbow Warrior, which were my official
submissions .
-- 
Tom Neff			UUCP: ...!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!tneff
	"None of your toys	CIS: 76556,2536	       MCI: TNEFF
	 will function..."	GEnie: TOMNEFF	       BIX: t.neff (no kidding)