Posted on 02/27/2006 8:25:34 AM PST by orionblamblam
A huge step up from NASA administrator's 'Apollo on steroids' tag, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) has been christened 'Altair' - named after a variable double star in the constellation Aquila.
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Greek mythology comes into play for the LSAM (Lunar Surface Ascent Module), which receives the name 'Artemis' - the virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon. Fittingly, Artemis is also the twin sister of Apollo.
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The Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) gains the name 'Ares I' - as NASA's name choices move into a historical parallel with the previous launch vehicles to take astronauts to the moon.
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The relation to the launch vehicles of old became more apparent when the naming of the CaLV (Cargo Launch Vehicle) was revealed to be 'Ares V' - with sources claiming this was a direct result of wishing to have an identification with the Saturn V.
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Other - more assuming reasoning for the names - could be from a NASA HQ that is full of Stargate SG-1 fans, as Artemis is also the name of a 'Goa'uld' in the television series, and 'Artemis II' was the lunar lander that was attacked by General Zod and his sidekick villains in the movie Superman.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasaspaceflight.com ...
"Altair" sounds like a vacuum cleaner.
Ping!
Sounds like a car with fins on the back.
Wasn't Altair IV the "Forbidden Planet"?
oh big deal. they figured out names. isn't that cute? when are they gonna do something meaningful? after the chinese setup diners on the moon?
Altair was a computer.........of sorts.......
I hear the egg drop soup there is out of this world!........on 1/6 the gravity of earth's!......
However, I was hoping the new booster would be called the Neptune, after the post-Saturn booster referenced in Sir Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Oh well - we could do a lot worse than Ares. Now if only the newscasters pronounce it correctly: it's "AH-ress", not "Air-EEZ", please. "Aries" is the Zodiacal ram; "Ares" is the Greek god of war.
Wasn't Altair the name of the carnival game that turned Tom Hanks into a pre-pubescent adult in BIG?
Interesting news, anyway. Didn't know they were making headway in the hunt for the moon.
Does that mean I'll be hungry sooner?
Liberals like sheep....too much.
Hence the pronunciation problem.
I believe so, yes.
LOL! Yes!..........
Will the moon landing be real this time? =)
Call it ANT. Apollo - New Technology.
Used to be an airline by this name that flew DeHavilland Twin Otters in/out of Philly International and various other airports in PA.
Sounds great. Unfortunately, all the entitlement programs will suck NASA to a dried-out husk.
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