Spacecraft Names

[Marsboo]

I recently started playing a new career mode game and I was thinking about mission names. What do you name your missions?

I name them after characters in mythology. For example, I just launched the fourth spacecraft in the Aphrodite program. So I was wondering what other KSP players name their missions. I know some use very simple names (Mun Lander 1), and that makes sense but I was wondering what sort of themes the other group uses. Like do you name your missions after fictional characters in a particular book or whatever?

I'm very curious to know.

[overkill13]

I name my ships by basic design, rather than mission.  Birds for rockets and cats for space planes.  Finch are simple SRB sub orbital ships, Sparrow are 1.25m orbital ships, Puma and Panther are Mk1 and Mk2 space plane designs with Panther engines.  When I unlock new parts I add Mk II , III, etc designations as I update the design.  Then I add specifics.  Sparrow 4 II Mun is a 1.25m orbital ship, 4 passengers + pilot, second generation, designed to go to the Mun.

Permanent ships are named after game... things.  Gnome and Dryad are landers, Undine and Syphid are transfer ships from Kerbin to Mun/Minmus, all mana spirits from the game Secret of Mana.  Stations are espers/summons from Final Fantasy (Ramuh, Shiva, Iffrit, Tritoch, Terrato) and I recently started naming my fuel tankers after spells in Final Fantasy (Fira, Thundara, Blizzaga)

[RoninFrog]

I also name mine by craft.  "Untitled Space Craft" is common.

Yeah, there's no real naming scheme for me.  I usually name my craft after I use it for a while.  For example, I have a career game with a very reliable, low tech 2-stage rocket designed to rescue one kerbal from LKO.  It has performed over 50 rescues, so I named it the "Kerbhauler".

[DoubleAACE]

I name mine by launcher type typically, and then add a further designation based on payload. One example was the C-108 B OKTO Rescue. The booster was from the C108 line (8th main booster in the save), third variant (-, A, B), and it was an OKTO 2 run rescue ship.
Of course, if I had multiple launchers that did a similar job, I came up with slightly more creative names (C-116 Typhoon comes to mind)

[KeaKaka]

I usually, especially when making planes, kind of stand back and have a look a what it reminds me of, then name it alongside the part count and plane number. Example: C710-52 "Albatross"

My rockets are a bit more literal. just yesterday I launched a rocket entitled Saturn V - MOLAB x2, which as you would expect was a Saturn V with two MOLABs.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Mountain Parrot

[LoneKharnivore]

I'm playing a combined historical career. My unmanned launchers range from K7 to Kerbuz, while the probes are called things like Muna or Evera, and my manned programmes are Moho, Kerbini and Kerbollo, on Greengrass, Kerblas and... well, I haven't decided on the Saturn equivalent yet.

 

Not very original, I know, but there it is.

[jimmymcgoochie]

I tend to name the probes etc. after what they're doing e.g. Duna Scanner, Mun Miner or Eeloo Reelaay (no, that's not a typo ).

My launch rockets were named after solar system moons with longer names for bigger rockets (smallest was Io, largest was Ganymede) until I realised I had missed a few size brackets and couldn't fit anything between Ariel and Deimos, so I swapped to using stage sizes and rainbow codes like 25(4)-18 Blue Button, which is a 2.5m first stage with 4 boosters and a 1.875m second stage- the colour in the code name comes from the first stage size (2.5m are blue for example) but the second word came from a random word generator and just like the real rainbow codes the name and the object have little or no connection. Admittedly the two largest rockets, with 7.5m first stages, were called 'Black Sky' and 'Black Hole' deliberately- the first because it's so big it blocks out the sun, and the second because funds get sucked into it and disappear forever...

[Misguided Kerbal]

I have a sorta weird naming scheme.

For example, most things i have a "model". My main crew launch vehicle is called the CTV, or Crew Transfer Vehicle. Missions are just CTV-#. Probes are basically the same. It's the name of the probe plus the designation. 

Planes, however, are different. I have 4 different types of plane classifications: F, for fighter, X, for experimental, S, for shuttle, and M, for miscellaneous. So a type of fighter jet might be classified as F-1. However, slight variations of the design have decimals. For example, if I added a few drop tanks, the new version would be F-1.2. Same goes for other plane types.

For Rovers, it would be something like G1.

 

[Stamp20]

Unmanned missions are [Planet] Explorer #, and manned missions are [Planet] Expedition # For example, Mun Expedition 1 for the first crewed Mun mission.

Stations are [First letter of planet name]SS, then a one-two word name, and bases are the same as stations but SB. For example, KSS Resort for a Kerbin station.

[LoneKharnivore]

1 hour ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I have a sorta weird naming scheme.

For example, most things i have a "model". My main crew launch vehicle is called the CTV, or Crew Transfer Vehicle. Missions are just CTV-#. Probes are basically the same. It's the name of the probe plus the designation. 

Planes, however, are different. I have 4 different types of plane classifications: F, for fighter, X, for experimental, S, for shuttle, and M, for miscellaneous. So a type of fighter jet might be classified as F-1. However, slight variations of the design have decimals. For example, if I added a few drop tanks, the new version would be F-1.2. Same goes for other plane types.

For Rovers, it would be something like G1.

 

That's not weird at all. I started my career with XV-# (for eXperimental Vehicle) and XR-# (for eXperimental Rover) - the XV series working from a small SRB up to a sub-orbital V2-equivalent sounding rocket, and the XRs used for gathering all the KSC science so I could get historically early technologies.

[Maple Kerman]

Quote

What do you name your missions?

I don't really give my missions any names, but I do give names to the ships that carry out that mission.
I usually just choose a cool name that works well as a vessel name, and then make a "family" of vessels with that name using Roman numerals.
Each family fulfills a different basic purpose.
Manned spacecraft destined for missions to other moons or planets are simply named after the celestial body itself, while other spacecraft get a unique name.

As an example, I am currently playing through career mode in the stock system, and my vessel names are as follows (the list is somewhat large):

Spoiler

"Alto" Family - Early-game manned rockets:

Alto I (Tiny science collector)
Alto II (First exoatmospheric craft)

"Nexus" Family - Basic manned LKO spacecraft (including rescue- and science-oriented crafts):

Nexus I (Really basic orbital rocket with science)
Nexus I+ (Slightly upgraded version of the Nexus I, didn't warrant a new number)
Nexus II (Two-seater orbital rocket)

"Mun" Family - Manned Mun orbiters and landers:

Mun I (Mun orbiter)
Mun II (Basic two-seater Mun lander)
Mun III (Apollo-style Mun lander)
Mun IV (Minimalist Mun lander)

"Minmus" Family - Manned Minmus orbiters and landers:

Minmus I (Two-seater Minmus orbiter)
Minmus II (Two-seater Minmus lander)
Minmus III (Advanced Minmus lander)

"Luno" Family - Unmanned Mun satellites and lander probes:

Luno I (Mun relay)
Luno II (Resource scanning satellite for polar orbits)
Luno III (Mun probe lander)

"Opal" Family - Unmanned Minmus satellites and lander probes:

Opal I (Minmus relay)
Opal II (Minmus probe lander)

"Duna" Family - Manned Duna/Ike orbiters and landers:

Duna I (Science mission)
Duna II (Duna lander)

Space Stations have their own unique names:

LKO Station: Aurora (Refuelling station)
Mun Station: Vespir (A sort of "gateway" for spacecraft going to and from the Mun)

Those are all the spacecraft I currently have.

I have a lot more names I plan to use! Hopefully, that gives you an idea of how I name my ships.

Edited November 19, 2020 by Maple Kerman

[vv3k70r]

On 4/30/2020 at 1:25 AM, Marsboo said:

What do you name your missions?

By pourpose - like Target_Mun, or Mun_and_back, observatory, telsat, refueling, rover, speeder, roller, flyer, biome_graber. Or even mission - engine_escape_test.

If something is changed I mark it on vessel name like nofuel_yesmonoprop_yesantena if refueling is done and  vessel is left as loose telsat. Sometimes I decople engine with fuel leftover (for very bad docking cargo like telescopes or scanner so the vessel look better) on low orbit so some cheap vessel can use it for deorbiting (quite often they fly along space stations).

Often it starts as rover_rocket than is changed to rover after leaving landing debris (which is grabbed and used for refueling). Or by awainting window on orbit (target_duna, target_asteroid, target_rescuer or even droppod awaiting for returning vessels for taking crew, chips and cheaply deorbit).