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)