# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/41 "2013-03-29T08:28:57Z")
The USS …Holy Shit Zero-G Sex Is Awesome!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/42 "2013-03-29T10:03:07Z")
USS _Gagarin_. (We need and deserve that bitter taste of steel in our mouths to properly motivate the program.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/43 "2013-03-29T10:07:24Z")
HAL iShip ---
**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, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/44 "2013-03-29T11:46:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Ok, then, the Santa Maria. With sister ships _Niña_ and _Pinta._ ---
**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, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/45 "2013-03-29T12:35:42Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > What’s the purpose of the voyage? Pure exploration? Making contact with alien civilizations? Colonization? Resource survey? Military reconnaissance and security? Ah, you’re pushing for the _USS MacGyver._ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/46 "2013-03-29T16:43:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s pretty slick. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/47 "2013-03-29T17:04:41Z")
You all get one guess how I voted 😃 **Capt** ---
**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, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/48 "2013-03-29T17:16:43Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Wasn’t that Laika’s ship? Hitchhiker’s Guide. Carrying the useless third of the Gulgafrinchan population and designed to crash on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/49 "2013-03-29T17:59:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Assume that the U.S. government has just announced that all technical problems regarding interstellar travel have been solved, and that planning for the first interstellar spacecraft is proceeding. I think I can still follow the rules of the assumption and say that the announcement will be that it’s a multi-national effort. So my problem is with the _USS_ parts of the names. It’ll be the _ISAS Cosmos_, where ISAS is International Space Agency Starship or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/50 "2013-03-29T18:07:29Z")
USS Randmcnally USS Lewis and Clark ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/51 "2013-03-29T19:06:00Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I think I can still follow the rules of the assumption and say that the announcement will be that it’s a multi-national effort. > > So my problem is with the _USS_ parts of the names. > > It’ll be the _ISAS Cosmos_, where ISAS is International Space Agency Starship or something like that. Except ISAS happens to be the old name for one of the Japanese space agencies. (It’s actually still called ISAS, though now it’s part of JAXA.) Anyway, **USS** is only used for US Navy ships. There is no similar prefix used on any spaceship. _Challenger_ was just _Challenger_. I’d also point out that the international space station doesn’t really have a name, it’s just called the International Space Station. So I suspect a multinational interstellar spaceship will just be called _International Interstellar Spaceship 1_, or _International Starship 1_. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/52 "2013-03-29T19:08:03Z")
p.s. If it’s a predominantly American mission, my vote is for the _Von Braun_. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/53 "2013-03-29T20:01:17Z")
_Earth Ship Silent Running_. ---
**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, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/54 "2013-03-29T21:38:11Z")
What’s wrong with _United Space Ship_? Or, if it’s a purely American project, _United States Spaceship_? Some more possibilities that I like: _Goddard_, _Godspeed_, _Victoria_ (the only one of Magellan’s five ships to complete the voyage), _Nostradamus_, _Sagan_, _Von Däniken_. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/55 "2013-03-29T21:49:25Z")
[Golden Hinde](http://www.goldenhinde.com/) ---
**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, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/56 "2013-03-29T22:47:19Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > p.s. If it’s a predominantly American mission, my vote is for the _Von Braun_. Because…_Von_ Braun was American? Frank Malina, Jack Parsons, Bill Pickering, and many others at GALCIT/JPL, Rocketdyne, Aeorjet, and other American engineers and scientists, contributed as much or more to American rocketry than Von Braun. (Goddard, of course developed many innovations prior to the Army/NASA programs, but because he did not share or patent most of these innovations they contributed little to American programs before the Peenemünde Army Research Center group was brought over. But if I had to pick an innovator in American rocket propulsion I’d advance Phil Bono or Bob Truax; not so much for what they accomplished, but the foresight of the concepts they proposed and championed. 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, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/57 "2013-03-29T23:19:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > But if I had to pick an innovator in American rocket propulsion I’d advance Phil Bono or Bob Truax; not so much for what they accomplished, but the foresight of the concepts they proposed and championed. USS _Truax_ sounds cool. USS _Bono_ … doesn’t. :rolleyes: ---
**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, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/58 "2013-03-29T23:32:04Z")
How about the USS Heinlein? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/59 "2013-03-29T23:48:08Z")
Who is the guy who came up with the equation for the number of populated planets? ---
**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 30, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198/60 "2013-03-30T00:19:28Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Who is the guy who came up with the equation for the number of populated planets? > **[Drake equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation)** > > The Drake equation is a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. > The equation was formulated in 1961 by Frank Drake, not for purposes of quantifying the number of civilizations, but as a way to stimulate scientific dialogue at the first scientific meeting on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The equation summarizes the main concepts which scientists must contemplate when considering th... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-interstellar-spacecraft/654198.md?page=4)