The Stars My Destination

Code Name: CHAOS
Alan Shepard initiated the tradition of American astronauts naming their spacecraft, his Mercury capsule's name Freedom 7 signifying American freedom in opposition to Soviet tyranny, & the seven astronauts of N.A.S.A.'s Astronaut Group 1, the "Mercury Seven" or "Original Seven." This tradition waned during Project Gemini, as we shall see in future episodes of "The Explorers' Club," but waxed again during Project Apollo, as we've already seen.

The reusable Space Shuttles were named, presumably by N.A.S.A. management, since those craft had multiple flight crews; it is unknown if the Orion capsules' names will be chosen by their crews or by N.A.S.A. management. Of course, N.A.S.A. has complicated matters by reusing names among multiple spacecraft: the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia & the Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102, the Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour & the Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105, & the Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger & the Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099. The aforementioned Orion capsule, which isn't a single vehicle but a class (of which several are currently planned) shares its name with the Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion.

We have yet to see if SpaceX's single-use Crew Dragon capsules, scheduled to begin ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station this month—27 May, three weeks from today, if all goes to plan—will be named; if so, let us hope they are better named than SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ships, which have profoundly unfortunate names. Boeing's reusable Starliner capsule set to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station beginning next year has been named Calypso.

I am charmed by the naming schema for Blue Origin's rockets: New Shepard for a suborbital booster & New Glenn for an orbital booster, referencing Alan Shepard's suborbital flight aboard the Freedom 7 & John Glenn's orbital flight aboard the Friendship 7.