http://channels.isp.netscape.com/whatsnew/default.jsp?story=20060824-1332The name of the new spaceship that will take astronauts to the Moon is a big secret until next week. Except it's not. U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who is currently floating 220 miles above Earth in the international space station where he is a flight engineer, let slip the new name: Orion.
The Associated Press and Reuters report NASA had planned to reveal the name on Aug. 31, the same day it announced the winning bidder that will manufacture the next generation of space vehicles that will replace the shuttle program. But don't blame Williams! He taped this message some time ago for NASA, "We've been calling it the crew exploration vehicle for several years, but today it has a name--Orion." It was NASA that made the boo-boo, accidentally transmitting it over space-to-ground radio.
Orion, which is named for the hunter in Greek mythology, will replace the space shuttle program when it ends in 2010. The easily-recognized Orion constellation has a bright belt of three stars. "One of the things we get into at NASA is we run around and call things by technical names and acronyms," project manager Skip Hatfield told AP. "This allows us to have an identity that we can use." Test flights are expected to begin in 2012 with the first mission to the Moon scheduled for no later than 2020, reports Reuters.
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