# The first interstellar spacecraft **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198 "2013-03-28T18:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/21 "2013-03-28T21:01:24Z")
Enterprise. Because we need all the luck we can get. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/22 "2013-03-29T00:12:11Z")
What, no love for _Jupiter 2_? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/23 "2013-03-29T00:22:42Z")
B Ark ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/24 "2013-03-29T00:30:21Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > What, no love for _Jupiter 2_? Not until robot/doctor marriage is made legal. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/25 "2013-03-29T00:33:41Z")
I’ll go for USS _Challenger_. > **[HMS Challenger (1858)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Challenger_(1858))** > > HMS Challenger was a Pearl-class corvette of the Royal Navy launched on 13 February 1858 at the Woolwich Dockyard. She served the flagship of the Australia Station between 1866 and 1870. > As part of the North America and West Indies Station, she took part in naval operations during the Second French intervention in Mexico, including the occupation of Veracruz, in 1862. She was assigned as the flagship of Australia Station in 1866, undertaking a punitive expedition in Fiji before leaving the st... A proud history of scientific exploration. If not Challenger, then _Endeavor_ It was captained by James Cook. Oops, I see someone has beaten me to Endeavor. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/26 "2013-03-29T00:34:43Z")
I’m good with USS Enterprise. Can’t go wrong with using the name of the most famous fictional starship and [more importantly our most decorated Naval Ship that survived everything but congress](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDUQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FUSS_Enterprise_(CV-6)&ei=IuFUUcG6G6LE4AOo1YHQBg&usg=AFQjCNE-UGTeQvgniKVfzQn4XpOamPTA2Q&sig2=adKcNRXSbX6ANqgai7ASHA). The “Big E” for a while held off the Japanese virtually by herself while reinforcements were being built. I think the Japanese reported her sunk 6 times. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/27 "2013-03-29T00:46:47Z")
If we’re looking past our solar system, how about or nationalism(s): Earth Ship I ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/28 "2013-03-29T01:10:52Z")
We could go with the cynical name “The Vector”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/29 "2013-03-29T01:13:32Z")
USS Sally Ride! It’s perfect—not only because it’s the name of a great, pioneering American astronaut, but the wordplay!—sally means ‘go forth’, which is absolutely appropriate, and ride is what the astronauts will be doing on it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/30 "2013-03-29T01:41:13Z")
USS Buzz Aldrin. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/31 "2013-03-29T01:54:03Z")
Event Horizon. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/32 "2013-03-29T02:15:07Z")
USS _Leif Erickson_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/33 "2013-03-29T02:38:41Z")
USS Magellan I know we’ve used it before but all the other good names have been used as well. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/34 "2013-03-29T02:39:03Z")
What’s the purpose of the voyage? Pure exploration? Making contact with alien civilizations? Colonization? Resource survey? Military reconnaissance and security? Manned or unmanned? Hyperlight drive or sublight? Subspace communications or conventional? If it’s a Starfleet-type starship, I’d say _Enterprise._ If it’s a space ark, I kind of like _Mayflower._ If it’s a purely military vessel, maybe _Comanche._ If it’s a scientific vessel, the _Beagle_ or _Darwin._ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/35 "2013-03-29T02:43:01Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > B Ark Wasn’t that Laika’s ship? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/36 "2013-03-29T02:45:43Z")
The USS Aristotle. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/37 "2013-03-29T03:36:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > If it’s a scientific vessel, the _Beagle_ or _Darwin._ Something like _Newton_ or _Copernicus_ would be more appropriate IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/38 "2013-03-29T04:13:23Z")
_Konstantin Tsiolkovsky_ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/39 "2013-03-29T04:46:56Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Something like _Newton_ or _Copernicus_ would be more appropriate IMHO. Great scientists, but they never made a voyage of discovery. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/40 "2013-03-29T07:14:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Great scientists, but they never made a voyage of discovery. Ok, then, the Santa Maria. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198.md?page=3)