Why the British spelling?
I believe it is named after the ship of the famous English explorer, Captain James Cook, discoverer, among other places, of the Hawaiian Islands.
And who croaked because Bligh screwed up his guard boat duties. 
Thanks, Saltire. Very Cool.
NASA’s official explanation, confirming the Captain Cook link.
OK, carnivorousplant, I have to bite.
Why do you think Bligh was derilict in his duty, or responsible for Captain Cook’s death?
Bligh was the Ship’s Master, or the Warrant Officer responsible for navigating the ship. He had to know how to use the compasses, sextants and quadrants and he had to care for them. He needed to be able to read the heavens and the sea and to work out logarithms and draw charts, and all this knowledge was useless if he didn’t know how a ship was rigged, how the anchors worked, who to call on in particular emergencies, and the difference between the Etesian and the Trade winds.
As a Warrant Officer, he was not in the chain of command, and had no responsibility for Captain Cook (The senior of the 2 captains on the voyage), or the 9 Royal Marines that went with Cook on February 14th, 1779.
And if I recall, when the Resolution returned to port, the board of Inquiry effectively ignored Bligh, and even attributed his maps to the Lieutanants serving under Cook.
So where was he derilict? Is there something that I’ve missed?
Cite: http://www.bookmagazine.com/may2000/excerpt_jtoohey.shtml (used for the duties of the Ship’s Master)
http://www.jetcity.com/~kirok/cook.shtml (Short Bio of Captain Cook)
He was in command of the guard boat when Cook was killed. Supposedly he should have been able to cover the withdrawal of Bligh from the beach or bring the party off.
An excellent small boat man of course.
I don’t care one way or another about Bligh’s reputation but it shouldn’t be based on a novel by Nordhoff and Hall, or a movie portrayal by Charles Laughton. At the time of the Bounty mutiny I think all British Navy ship commanders were bastards. The seamen were regarded as sort of sub-humans who need to be kept in line by intimidation.
The mutiny didn’t affect Bligh’s career at all so apparently the navy didn’t think he was in any way at fault or out of line in his actions. He went on to command another, and successful, voyage to get breadfruit trees and eventually reached the rank of Vice Admiral in 1814.
Don’t assume I’m an idiot, ok?
Well, carnivorousplant, let’s review the bidding.
You opened with this bald statement of what I presume was presented as a fact: **
And who croaked because Bligh screwed up his guard boat duties.**
There was no backup data to indicate your source of this “fact” leaving the reader free to speculate as to its origin.
Eliphalet then asked for your data and provided some links about Cook. He also mentioned a British Navy inquiry concerning the event. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find one (in a rather short search). All the same, it would be reasonable to expect that the killing of Cook would have occasioned some sort of investigation.
You then replied:**
He was in command of the guard boat when Cook was killed. Supposedly he should have been able to cover the withdrawal of Bligh from the beach or bring the party off.
**
Again there is no indication whatever as to how you can possibly know the circumstances of the action. How do you know that Bligh had any forces under his command? Maybe he was just in charge of the boat and someone else commanded the forces supposedly guarding Cook. How in world can you possible know that, “… he should have been able to cover the withdrawal of Bligh[sic] from the beach or bring the party off … ?”
I then chimed in with a brief resume of Bligh’s career (with an admittedly rather sarcastic opener) pointing out that he rose to high rank in the navy. I really must say that the British Navy, like all first rate military organizations, is not at all tolerant of screwups who allow their commander to be killed before their eyes when they could have prevented it. Such officers certainly don’t get promoted to stratospheric rank in the usual course of events. From that I sort of gather that the navy didn’t hold Bligh responsible in any way for Cook’s death.
Your response was: Don’t assume I’m an idiot, ok?
I’m not cognizant of your usual skill in backing up your posts with references. However, in this particular case all I did was call it as I saw it.
It is a joy to post with you, guy.
Note: NASA already had one other spaceship named Endeavour, namely the Apollo 15 command module. It also was named for Cook’s ship, and used British spelling. And another space shuttle also is named for one of Cook’s vessels: Discovery.
IIRC, the runner-up in the “name the shuttle” contest was yet another of Cook’s fleet, Resolution. I’d nominate that for any future Mars spaceships, that or Adventure. There was one other ship Cook sailed on that probably will not be used by NASA anytime soon: Free Love.