The student contest to name the twin GRAIL probes, recently won by a fourth grade class at Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana, is just the latest NASA sponsored competition to name a spaceship.
1988 -- Space Shuttle Endeavour
The United States authorized the construction of a new space shuttle orbiter to replace the Challenger, which was destroyed during its launch on Jan. 26, 1986. NASA offered a competition to name the new orbiter which received more than 6,000 entries. The entries had to be the name of an exploration ship appropriate to NASA's mission. The winning entry was Endeavour, submitted by students at the McCall-Donnelly Elementary School in McCall, Idaho. Endeavour was a ship sailed by Royal Navy Capt. James Cooke in a voyage of exploration in the Pacific in the 1700s.
1994 -- Sojourner Truth Mars Rover
In 1994, the Planetary Society in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory started a nation-wide student contest to name the tiny rover to be deployed by the Mars Pathfinder lander. Valerie Ambroise, 12, of Bridgeport, CT submitted the winning essay, suggesting the name of "Sojourner Truth," after an African American abolitionist of the Civil War era. "Sojourner" is another name for traveler.
1998 -- Terra Earth Probe
A contest to name the EOS AM-1 probe, designed to measure climate and environmental change on Earth. The winning name of Terra was submitted by Sasha Jones, then a 12th Grader from St Louis, Missouri. Jones, in her essay, stated that Terra was the name of the most beautiful woman ever, as the planet is the source of food, water, air, and even lessons taught through its fury.
2003 -- Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers
The contest to name the two Mars Exploration Rovers was sponsored by NASA and the Lego Company. The two Mars rovers, which have been operating on the Martian surface since landing in early 2004, were named by then nine year old Sofi Collins, a Siberian born orphan who was adopted by an American couple and was brought to the United States at the age of two. Spirit and Opportunity were judged to be characteristics necessary in the pursuit of exploration.
2009 -- Curiosity Mars Rover
Formally known as the Mars Science Laboratory, the Curiosity rover is now en route to Mars with a projected August landing date. A contest to name the car sized rover was co-sponsored by NASA and Disney-Pixar's animated film "WALL-E." Twelve-year-old Clara Ma from the Sunflower Elementary school in Lenexa, Kansas submitted the winning entry from over 9000 proposals. Ms. Ma wrote, in her essay, that curiosity is "--an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind."
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker . He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
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