I’ll second Endurance and Intrepid.
Phoenix is a popular name for fictional shuttles. One of the James Bond movies had a Phoenix shuttle, as did the Max Steel cartoon series.
I always thought that the name Atlantis was asking for trouble, considering what happened to its namesake. Kinda like when they name ships Invincible; I mean, with a name like that you’re just begging God to reach down and smite your ship 
Titan is a type of Rocket, and it’s still in use, IIRC.
Good one, but we’ve already got a shuttle called Enterprise..
Some of the best names have already been used by unmanned probes. Should they be reused?
Perserverance
I like Valiant and Intrepid. Olympic was the name of Titanic’s slightly older and much much much luckier sister ship.
Pioneer, Magellan, Galileo–trouble is a lot of the best names have been taken by robots
Maybe Einstein, Brahe (no, too many jokes), Hubble–darn! More robots! ROBOTS EVERYWHERE!!
Maybe I should go to bed.
[ul]
[li]Resolution - HMS Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook and accompanied by HMS Adventure, was probably the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle, in 1773. Although Cook’s explorations were extensive and he actually circumnavigated the Antarctic continent, he never approached closely enough to sight land.[/li]
[li]Niña - Columbus’ favorite ship. Sailed at least 25,000 miles under his command, including his first two voyages to the West Indies.[/li]
[li]Wright - After the Wright Brothers.[/li]
[li]Calypso - Jaques Cousteau’s ship.[/li]
[li]Von Braun[/li]
[li]Ranger[/li]
[li]Intrepid[/li]
[li]Constellation[/li]
[li]Endurance[/li]
[li]Lexington[/li]
[li]Bonhomme Richard[/li]
[li]Vanguard[/li][/ul]
I wouldn’t go for Niña, considering Columbus’s “contributions” to native culture. Vanguard is a rocket, and I think it’s still being used. Intrepid is a museum in New York, and Constellation is still a commissioned vessel in the USN, isn’t it? I think Ranger is still afloat, and Lexington is a museum I think. The “Bonnie Dick” was cut up for scrap years ago. Good name, but it just doesn’t sound right for a Shuttle. Isn’t Constellation still in service?
Calypso might be my favourite ship. Of course, she was raised after she sunk and survives now as a museum. Good name. Good record. She was even an American ship originally, IIRC. But she has been so recently afloat, maybe we should wait a while. How about naming the next shuttle Cousteau?
I like Gagarin. He was the first, and he should be honoured. But I think NASA would go for an American before the first man in space. Maybe the Shuttle Alan B. Shepard? Not only was he the first American in space, but he perservered through Meniere’s disease to get back into space again. It seems fitting we should name the next Shuttle after someone who wouldn’t quit until he accomplished his goal.
Anyway, that’s what I think of some of the names presented, plus two of my own.
I would think some of these names would be good
Freedom
Bradbury
Asimov
Jules Vern
(although Dick would not be appropriate)
How a about “Space Bob Shuttle Pants” ?
Name it for an American with scientific credentials.
1- Einstein
2- Goddard
3- Jefferson (call it the Jefferson Starship)
4- Franklin
Space Shuttle Explosion or Spacy
Seriously, Apogee, A(_)helion, Perigee, Perhelion sound nice to me. Explorer or even Cock would have meaning.
As long as the name has nothing to do with 9/11, I’m happy.
I don’t think so – a couple of weeks ago, CNN showed it leaving San Diego for the Persian Gulf. According to the US Navy, it’s currently in the Pacific.
A new class of stuttles should be named not after exploratory vessels, that is the system used for the present generation.
I propose:
inventors: (Thomas Edison, Alexander Bell, Ben Franklin)
Astro/Cosmonauts: (as noted by others)
American Ideals: (Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Independance)
Exploratory Ideals: (Endurance, Dauntless, Intrepid)
Foreign Leaders who Aided the United States: (Lafayette, Churchill)
American Rivers: (Potomac, Shenadoah, Susquahana)
All in all I think American Rivers sounds the best, lots of names, all them loaded with history and signifigance.
I think so. Of course I was talking about CV-31:
I was at a gun show where a vendor was selling pieces of her flight deck as paperweights, and other bits taken from the ship.
Anyway, there’s already another “Bonnie Dick”. So to prevent any confusion it’s better not to name a Shuttle after a ship that still exists. (It doesn’t really matter with Enterprise, but when I say the name I’m almost always talking about CVN-65 and people usually ask me if I mean the science-fiction Enterprise.)
The word is “cromulent.” You speak English? Unpossible!
Ok how about nameing one The Cromulent.
Cromulent is a perfectly Bob name for a space craft.
Space is a perfectly Cromulent name for a Bob Craft.