The Naming of Human Space Missions

Statue of Apollo in Nice, France

Introduction

There is an art to choosing the appropriate name for a space program, especially a “Human Space Mission”. In the early days of the space race, NASA used the category of “Manned Space” to distinguish missions from those performed by unmanned spacecraft, or what we now call “robotics”. Realizing how sexist that title was, especially after admitting females to the astronaut program, the preferred term became the awkward, “Human Space Missions”. With the goal of returning to the Moon, NASA has attempted to correct past errors by naming the mission for a Greek female goddess. The selection of a name for the new mission has not been without the influence of politics and popular movements.

Man in Space

Preceding “Man in Space”, and contributing to it was, “Chimp in Space”, clouded in military security. The Russians used dogs. General Electric’s Biosatellite Program launched a monkey using the same re-entry and recovery technology that it used for its Discoverer spy satellites.

The early manned missions were very much a masculine endeavor. This was during an era when the man was the breadwinner, ruled as Master of the Manor; and the woman was expected to remain home to cook, clean, and raise the children. When Carpenter made his “Giant Leap for Mankind”, did he really intend to include the ladies? Surely, exploration of space was “man’s work”, just as had been the case historically, for exploration of the Earth. The first phase of “Man in Space” was “Mercury”, named for the Roman male god of commerce and speed; then came “Gemini”, after the Greek male twin Gods of War, Castor and Pollux; and finally, “Apollo” after the male Greek god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun, light, poetry, and practically everything else. Apollo was part of both Greek and Roman mythology. (Apollo has been widely depicted in statuary, famously in the fountain at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, where he drives a chariot that carries the Sun across the sky each day. My favorite depiction of Apollo is the fountain in Nice, France, because of the story connected to it. This giant statue once offended some, was once covered with a fig leaf, chiseled down in size, dethroned and exiled to a football field, before finally being returned to its rightful place in Place Massena in Nice.)

NASA defined the requirements for astronaut training for Man in Space so explicitly, that they effectively excluded female candidates. The first group of astronauts, (Glenn, Grissom, Shepard, Cooper. Slayton, Carpenter, and Schirra), also know as the Mercury Seven, were all uniformly qualified. All were former military pilots with jet combat service, either in World War II, the Korean War, or both. Most held BS degrees in Aeronautical Engineering, or like Glenn and Carpenter, at least studied Engineering in college, but did not graduate. Most were trained and practiced as experimental test pilots. Three were graduates of Annapolis. They were young and physically fit. Where could you find female candidates with those credentials? While the Mercury Seven pursued their macho, masculine assignments in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the “Astronaut Wives’ Club”, at home in Houston, Texas, pursued their feminine duties, organizing potluck “launch parties”. The tight-knit group were described as, “seven flawless cameo-faced dolls sitting in the family room with their pageboy bobs in place, ready to offer any and all aid to the brave lads”. When the Mercury Seven astronauts were given sporty Corvettes to drive, the wives were strongly encouraged to keep their family-friendly station wagons,

The subsequent list of astronaut candidates for the Apollo program, was equally all male, well qualified with military pilot service, experienced as test pilots, and with degrees in Aeronautical Engineering. Nine held Master’s degrees in Engineering, and two were Doctors of Science. Famous female pilot Jackie Cochran, who incidentally, held more speed and altitude records than any male pilot, wanted to be the first woman on the Moon, and argued for inclusion of female astronaut candidates, personally funding one of the private advocacy groups. Her objections to some of the advocacy goals were likely due to the fact that they would not have made her the first.

NASA participated in the Tektite Program, an underwater simulation of living in space. In 1969 and 1970, NASA conducted psychological, microbiological, and food studies to assess the performance of crews of scientists living in close quarters, in a threatening environment from which recovery would be lengthy and difficult. Every movement of their activities in the underwater habitat was recorded on punch cards and video, 24/7. Special attention was paid to the all-female crew, led by eminent marine biologist Sylvia Earle. The scientific value of the experiments performed by the underwater crews did not lend itself to numerical evaluation, but, by every measure of diving activity we could quantify, the female crew outperformed their male counterparts. I presented a paper at an International Conference of the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) on the performance of the female crew. I would like to believe that the data from the Tektite program was instrumental in NASA’s subsequent decision to open the astronaut program to females.

Manned Mars Mission

Ironic that we have again chosen a target program that has a title that might be regarded by some as sexist. The planet Mars is named for another male Roman god, this one, the God of War. (Why not a “Womanned Venus Mission”? Sorry, but Venus is even more inhospitable than Mars, with an average surface temperature of 864°F, and a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere at a pressure that is equivalent to being 3,000 feet underwater.)

NASA has chosen as its next space exploration campaign a mission that is almost impossible, given the current state of our technology and existing equipment. They have made it seem more credible by proposing that the trip be launched from a lunar orbit, rather than Earth orbit. No one will doubt our ability to go to the Moon.

NASA’s most recent plan for a Manned Mars Mission, to launch from a lunar base, would require less energy, less transit time, less propellant, but, more importantly, would begin the mission with the introduction of a popular element, one that would more easily gain public support and Congressional funding: “Return to the Moon”. Without the Mars end objective, a “return to the Moon” program itself would be difficult to justify from a scientific point of view, nor is it likely to be supported as a source of national pride, as the Apollo Program was. There would be little to be gained scientifically from further manned lunar missions, unless you believed that you might find water. An early announcement from the White House promised a return to the lunar surface by 2024. There was no detailed schedule or funding profile to substantiate that date, it was chosen because of it political appeal. It would mark a significant achievement before the end of the second Trump administration, no longer a reality. In what would seem to be a blatant appeal for political support, the current administration has endorsed the added goal of “putting the first Black woman on the Moon”. The other objectives, those of scientific value, have not beem defined. Personally, I think the goal of a female footprint is a weak objective. What scientific value can be added by this concession to the feminist and diversity movements? But if the assignment is still open, I would nominate Kamila Harris for the honor.

Incidentally, in Kennedy’s speech announcing the Apollo Program, he included the words,”….safely , and return.” I have not seen those words used by NASA.

Artemis

Artemis, Daughter of Zeus, Greek Goddess of Wild Animals, the Hunt, Vegetation, Chastity, and Childbirth

The phase of the Manned Mars Mission that establishes a base on the lunar surface has been named Artemis by NASA. After naming our first program for manned exploration of the Moon after a male Greek god, it was politically wise to correct that faux pas by naming the mission for return to the Moon after Apollo’s sister, Artemis, the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, vegetation, chastity, and childbirth. Artemis has become the symbol of the Women’s Rights movement, and the cartoon role model for young girls.

Statue of Diana, Philadelphia Art Museum

In the Roman religion, the equivalent goddess was Diana. The Temple of Diana in Ephesus was one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. When the apostle Peter spoke to the Ephesians, it was to dissuade them of worship of Diana. One of the sculptural depictions of Diana has been labeled as “multiple-breasted”, but a more logical explanation is that Diana is displaying trophies of her prowess as a huntress. It was a practice of her hunting followers to remove the scrotum of their prey to display as a trophy, as a necklace or belt, as proof that they had killed a mature male of the species. Given the sexist nature of her mythical followers, similar to that of the Amazons, I can only hope that the trophies displayed by Diana came from wild animals.

Why was this mission not named for the Roman Diana, which would have been a more familiar name? Probably to avoid association with Diane, Princess of Wales.

The Artemis mission is broken into three phases. Artemis I includes only an uncrewed test flight. Artemis II, the first scheduled crewed mission of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, is currently planned to be launched in May 2024. Not until Artemis III will a landing be made on the Moon’s surface. In the third phase, two crew members will land using the Human Landing System (HLS), and remain for about a week, while two crew members will remain onboard the orbiting Orion spacecraft. One of the two crew members walking on lunar soil will be a Black women. Not until Artemis III in 2025 will there be a permanent base in lunar orbit, the stepping stone to Mars.

There is a contingent within NASA that is promoting the idea of an all-female crew for Artemis, harking back to Tektite II’s all-female mission. We know that at least one member of the crew will be a Black woman, presumably straight. It has been suggested that the remainder of the four-women crew be made up of one lesbian, one trans, and one, “I’d rather not say.” That way, all bases will be covered.

Naming Future Human Space Missions

Naming the “Return to the Moon” mission for Artemis, twin sister of Apollo, was a wise choice, recognizing the achievements of the prior lunar missions, while by the same action, introducing a female component. However, it appears that NASA is running out of suitable Greek and Roman gods and goddesses to name future Human Space Missions, especially if they need to avoid the impression of male dominance. Many of the good names have already been used in naming the planets and their moons:

Mercury (male God of Commerce and Speed)

Venus (female Roman Goddess of Love, Greek female Aphrodite)

Earth (Gaia, female Greek goddess of Earth, Roman female Terra)

Moon (female Greek goddess Selene, Roman goddess Luna)

Mars (male God of War)

Jupiter (male Roman God of the Sky, equivalent to Greek Zeus)

Europa (female Greek consort of Zeus)

Ganymede (male Greek divine hero)

Io (female mortal lover of Zeus)

Callisto (female Greek nymph

Amalthea (female foster mother of Zeus)

Adrastea (female virgin goddess of justice, purity, etc)

47 other moons of Jupiter, mostly unnamed

Saturn (male Roman God of Time, etc)

Titan (six elder gods, sons of Uranus and Gaia)

Enceladus (Giant son of Gaia and Uranus

Mimas (Giant son of Gaia and Uranus)

Dione (Titan goddess, mother of Aphrodite)

Tethy (Titan goddess of fresh water, nursing)

Iapetus (Titan son of Gaia and Uranus)

Hyperion (Titan son of Gaia and Uranus, God of Heavenly Light)

Epimetheus (male Titan God of Afterthought)

Rhea (female Titaness, goddess of fertility, motherhood, generation)

Telesto (one of 3,000 water nymphs, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys)

72 other moons of Saturn, mostly unnamed

Uranus (male Greek God of the Sky, male Roman god Caelus)

Titania (Shakespeare’s fictional queen of the fairies

Oberon (fictional king of the fairies)

Umbriel (male gnome, fictional character in poem of Alexander Pope)

Miranda (female fictional character in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”)

Ariel (female angel in Jewish and Christian mysticism)

Puck (a malicious male fairy in medieval English folklore)

Pluto (male Greek ruler of the underworld, earlier god Hades)

Charon (male ferryman of the dead in Greek mythology)

Styx (male, one of the rivers of the underworld in Greek mythology

Nix (female personification of night in Greek mythology)

Kerberos (male three-headed Hound of Hades in Greek mythology)

Hydra (male nine-headed monster in Greek legend, killed by Hercules)

Perhaps we have relied too heavily on Greek and Roman mythology, and should look among the lists of folklore heroes, real and fictional. Appendix I is a reduced list of heroes and heroines throughout the ages, that might provide a suitable name for some future program.:

Appendix I

Shortened lists of candidate names for future programs, from history, legend, and literature:

From Antiquity (up to 450 AD)

Alexander (Greece)

Athena (Greece)

Boudica (Great Britain)

Cleopatra (Egypt)

Hannibal (Tunisia)

Hector (Troy)

Spartacus (Bulgaria)

From Middle Ages (450 to 1500)

Boru (Ireland)

Columbus (Italy)

Polo (Italy)

Wallace (Scotland)

Early Modern (1500 to 1800)

Betsy Ross (United States)

Magellan (Spain)

Lafayette (France)

Pocahantus (United States)

Revere (United States )

Modern (Since 1800)

Appleseed (United States)

Crockett (United States)

Boone (United States)

Bunyan (United States)

Geronimo (United States)

Sitting Bull (United States)

Tecumseh (Canada)

Shakespeare’s iconic heroines have always been a good source for the names of strong female characters:

Cordelia

Cressida

Desdemona

Juliet

Katherina

Ophelia

Portia

Rosalind