Tag Archives: space shuttle

Who Names NASA’s Space Probes?

Early artist's conception of New Horizons, courtesy of NASA.
Early artist’s conception of New Horizons, courtesy of NASA.

The latest NASA space probes to make the news have zoomed to the farthest reaches of the solar system, and their names – Pluto’s New Horizons, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Rosetta and Philae – reflect the ambition and spirit of discovery behind them.

But who gets to pick those evocative names, and is there any pattern that ties them together? Read on …

What’s Way Cooler Than Naming a Kid? Naming a NASA Spacecraft

NASA’s all-singing, all-dancing rocketship

Space Launch System on Launch Pad - Artist Rendition
Image courtesy NASA

NASA is planning its most powerful rocket to date, a jack-of-all-trades vehicle intended to carry the American space program through a dizzying array of potential  missions. Inheriting parts from the now-defunct space shuttle, its stillborn successor, Constellation, and the Saturn V workhorse that launched Americans to the moon, this modular monster is Senate-mandated to meet the requirements of any mission NASA dreams up, from  near-Earth milk runs to  massive undertakings like Mars exploration.

Can a single vehicle serve so many masters in so many ways, or will this phoenix turn out to be a turkey? Find out below – and then test your knowledge in the Big, Bad Space Launch System quiz.

How the Space Launch System Will Work
Blastoff! The Big, Bad Space Launch System Quiz