What Is Your Naming Theme For Your Spacecraft?

[Hotdiggitydog]

I usually go with Greek gods and other ancient mythologies for rocket and/or spacecraft names. Here are some:

- Artemis II Heavy Rocket

- Osiris IV Medium Rocket

- Hercules Crew Pod

- Phoenix Mun Lander

- Icarus Rescue Capsule

- Atlas Duna Landing Vehicle

- Capricorn Eve Ascent Rocket

Anybody got something better? I'd like to hear them.

[KerballingSmasher]

Hmm... I usually either base mine off of the bodies they're visiting with an acronym (Like PDuna-FB-1 was my first probe to Duna, and it was a fly-by) or I just ask Discord to come up with something cool (Refuge 4, Haven 5)

[CoriW]

Well, let's just say I may have gone a wee bit overboard with my naming conventions..

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1e6h_RfTJQInkiYPNFhqC3RN0nc9CiEQn27r2UGDl8/edit?usp=sharing

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

"Untitled Space Craft"

 

(Never been good with names... I mean, just look at my username here...)

[razark]

Alpha

Spacecraft Two

Ship III

D

Craft[4]

.
.
.

[Missingno200]

Usually based on a generation of technology or what they use for most of their thrust, followed by a shortened version of the body they're visiting, and sometimes I even throw that out just for something like "Translunar." For example on my first set, "SRB 13 KN-M", which would be Solid Rocket Boosters (rocket) 13, KerbiN (moon) Mun.

[ARS]

2 words, one is associated with weather or space phenomenon, the other is anything, some of the name is:

-Crimson Sunset superheavy passenger aircraft

-Faraway Skies research aircraft

-Starlight Dream high-speed SSTO

Edited April 23, 2019 by ARS

[Epicdreamer]

Usually I make up names from what the craft is, or what its location/purpose is, like:

R&RS - Recource & Relaxation Station

Misca - Minmus scanner

Joocrem - Jool crewed mission

Muscim - Mun Science Mission

Etc...

[Klapaucius]

I mostly build planes and the occasional submarine and hydrofoil. I pretty much name them after authors or fictional characters (more often than not sci fi), though very occasionally I stray outside that. Only one craft is not named after someone.

 

For example: Getrude after explorer Getrude Bell

Vance, after sci-fi and fantasy master Jack Vance

Basil after Basil Fawlty

Bugs (Bunny)

Trillian and Arthur after the characters in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Qfwfq: The main narrator in Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics

and Gogol, Octavia, Ursula etc.....

Edited April 23, 2019 by Klapaucius

[Vakarian]

I usually either make a joke of it, or make fun if myself or be ultra descriptive (like Probe 1200km polar orbit unmanned Mk1).

 

Or name them after my fav game characters like Garrus Vakarian Space Station. (Too calibrate weapons in).

[Sky Vagrant]

My Duna vessels are mostly named after the Dune novels - Shaihulud, Shadout Mapes, etc.

My Dres probe is named “Dresiarnez” because that tickled me. I guess I’ll name future Dres vessels Dresilu, HeyLucy, ImHome, etc (if you get this you are old).

[Klapaucius]

5 minutes ago, Sky Vagrant said:

My Dres probe is named “Dresiarnez” because that tickled me. I guess I’ll name future Dres vessels Dresilu, HeyLucy, ImHome, etc (if you get this you are old).

Are there a Fred and an Ethel?

[Treveli]

(destination name) Streak- simple fly-by mission. Manned.

(Destination name) Scope/Scraper- a landing mission. Unmanned/Manned.

Name Surveyor- Probe, orbiting. Also serve as a communication relay for later missions.

Crusier- Large, long-range vessel.

Name-O-Plex/Name Outpost- Orbital station/science outpost.

Lifter and upper stage designs based on purpose/RL inspiration- Mule, Tug, Merman (Mercury), Soyman (Soyuz), Atman (Atlas), SHL Standard Heavy Lifter (SLS).

 

One-off craft get a name unique to their mission or purpose.

[Sky Vagrant]

1 minute ago, Klapaucius said:

Are there a Fred and an Ethel?

There will be now! Those sound like good rover names. Thanks!

[Nikolai]

For a long time, I named my spacecraft after famous sidekicks: Watson, Chewbacca, Donkey, Spock, Weasley, Inigo, Robin, Gromit, Garth, Barf, Olsen, Smee, Sallah, Piglet, Igor, Barney, Squiggy, Falstaff, Garfunkel, Goose, Willow, Smithers, Sancho, Dwight, Norton, Wazowski, Pinky, Arthur, Gabrielle, Tink, 99, Tonto, Kato, Tails, Harley, Dory, Rizzo, Rosco, Passepartout, Pedro, Boo Boo, Baldrick, whatever.

[Klapaucius]

1 minute ago, Nikolai said:

For a long time, I named my spacecraft after famous sidekicks: Watson, Chewbacca, Donkey, Spock, Weasley, Inigo, Robin, Gromit, Garth, Barf, Olsen, Smee, Sallah, Piglet, Igor, Barney, Squiggy, Falstaff, Garfunkel, Goose, Willow, Smithers, Sancho, Dwight, Norton, Wazowski, Pinky, Arthur, Gabrielle, Tink, 99, Tonto, Kato, Tails, Harley, Dory, Rizzo, Rosco, Passepartout, Pedro, Boo Boo, Baldrick, whatever.

That's brilliant!

[discoreeper]

Any word that pops into my mind.

For example if I saw my pen I might simply name the ship "Pen" lol

[Hotdiggitydog]

13 hours ago, CoriW said:

Well, let's just say I may have gone a wee bit overboard with my naming conventions..

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1e6h_RfTJQInkiYPNFhqC3RN0nc9CiEQn27r2UGDl8/edit?usp=sharing

Well that is... something else. Very cool.

2 hours ago, Treveli said:

(destination name) Streak- simple fly-by mission. Manned.

(Destination name) Scope/Scraper- a landing mission. Unmanned/Manned.

Name Surveyor- Probe, orbiting. Also serve as a communication relay for later missions.

Crusier- Large, long-range vessel.

Name-O-Plex/Name Outpost- Orbital station/science outpost.

Lifter and upper stage designs based on purpose/RL inspiration- Mule, Tug, Merman (Mercury), Soyman (Soyuz), Atman (Atlas), SHL Standard Heavy Lifter (SLS).

 

One-off craft get a name unique to their mission or purpose.

I love Soyman for Soyuz . Also, what if you are doing an apollo style mission (lets say duna). Would the whole spacecraft be called Duna Scraper, or would only the lander be called that and would the orbital module be Duna Streak?

[kBob]

Depends on what I've been watching: Enterprise, Voyager, Serenity, Apollo, TARDIS etc.

[Treveli]

1 hour ago, Hotdiggitydog said:

Well that is... something else. Very cool.

I love Soyman for Soyuz . Also, what if you are doing an apollo style mission (lets say duna). Would the whole spacecraft be called Duna Scraper, or would only the lander be called that and would the orbital module be Duna Streak?

To my shame, I have over 1000 hours in KSP and have never sent a manned mission to Duna, or any of the other planets. I usually end up getting distracted while making preperations to do it, and by the time I come back to KSP I can't remember what I was doing in my old saves. But on my Apollo-Style missions to the muns, I just use Scraper for the entire thing.

[RealKerbal3x]

This isn't exactly a proper naming system, but I like having Star Trek style ship's registries for my ships. So I have the type of ship, for example LAV for Lighter Than Air Vessel (or airship) or DSV for Deep Space Vessel. Then I have the type number and the ship number - for example, 1701 would be ship type 17 vessel 1.

You end up with names like Hermes DSV-0204 or Deep Purple LAV-0101.

[Hotdiggitydog]

2 minutes ago, Treveli said:

To my shame, I have over 1000 hours in KSP and have never sent a manned mission to Duna, or any of the other planets. I usually end up getting distracted while making preperations to do it, and by the time I come back to KSP I can't remember what I was doing in my old saves. But on my Apollo-Style missions to the muns, I just use Scraper for the entire thing.

The funniest thing is that I'm the exact same. I have 1718 hours in KSP and have never got to Duna or Eve completely legit. It's not like I couldn't do it, it's just that I get board half way though planning it and it always gets scrapped. Maybe it's because I usually dream too big (sending a half dozen cargo rockets ahead of the crew, like in the "Martian"). In my defense, I have sent about a hundred missions to the moon, made bases on Minimus, and had about 2 dozen space stations though, so I'm no noob.

 

2 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

This isn't exactly a proper naming system, but I like having Star Trek style ship's registries for my ships. So I have the type of ship, for example LAV for Lighter Than Air Vessel (or airship) or DSV for Deep Space Vessel. Then I have the type number and the ship number - for example, 1701 would be ship type 17 vessel 1.

You end up with names like Hermes DSV-0204 or Deep Purple LAV-0101.

I assume "Deep Purple" is heading to Eve? An airship on Eve would be awesome. It's like NASA's HAVOC plan for Venus.

[RealKerbal3x]

3 minutes ago, Hotdiggitydog said:

I assume "Deep Purple" is heading to Eve? An airship on Eve would be awesome. It's like NASA's HAVOC plan for Venus.

The Deep Purple isn't going to Eve, but it's going to be exploring Kerbin. I just got the idea to name airships after rock bands  I'll probably do the Led Zeppelin for another airship.

By the way, the mod I use for airships is Heisenberg.

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by RealKerbal3x

[khyron42]

So many naming conventions over the years...

- flightless birds (Penguin I-IV for the first launchers, Emu XX first ship to Duna, and the giant mothership to the Jool system was Mama Chicken Prime with Chicks 1-3 carried along)

- apex predators (Lion, Tiger, Dragon, etc.)

- astronauts and rocket scientists (Goddard I for first flight, Korolev, Gagarin, etc.)

- Flowers (petunia, daisy, etc. - because I was doing a lot of asparagus staging and it reminded me of flower petals)

- favorite fictional characters (Atreides/Harkonnen/etc. from Dune on one playthrough, Hogwarts houses and schools, character names from Tolkien)

[Bill Phil]

I need to use some airship mods.

Maybe build the Pandora and fly around with Nathan Z. Kerman