I suppose they'll be using other contellations too, eventually. And that includes the Zodiac signs.
There are a bunch of cool names in the sky that we all know very well...
- Aries
- Taurus
- Gemini - bloody hell, they already used that one!
- Cancer
- Leo
- Virgo
- Libra
- Scorpius
- Sagittarius
- Capricornus
- Aquarius - damn, this one has been also used, it was the LEM in Apollo 13 mission.
- Pisces
That's just Zodiac signs... there are other *familiar* ones, too:
- Hercules
- Perseus (and Medusa's head is part of that constellation...)
- Auriga
- Centaurus
- Pegasus
- Ursa (Major and Minor)
Then there's some that have already been used - Aquila was the LEM of Apollo 11 (Eagle), and Antares (main star of Scorpius) was the call sign ot LEM in Apollo 14 mission.
But on the other hand, they might not care which name is used and which are not. After all, Orion was also the call sign of Apollo 16 Lunar Module. And Apollo 17 LEM was dubbed Challenger, which name was already re-used later on.
And of course we already have an Arcadia Installation here in Finland...
Btw, has anybody thought that it's actualyl quite a pun that Perseus, the advanced interceptor, is meant to kill bombers, and one bomber is named Medusa, who as a mythical character was killed by the original Perseus?
And talking about the original Orion Project... It'd be so cool if they finally utilized nuclear propulsion in their lunar crafts, but I doubt that's going to happen. So, unless the new craft uses nuclear propulsion, I suppose the original Project Orion is shleved and the project name has been taken into use by another project.
EDIT: And by the Lords of Kobol, of course they are going to name the rockets for manned and cargo Orion Ares I and Ares V... How do I get an impression that generic names are popular in space adminstration?
