Eagle, Freedom or GalaxyOne — which do you prefer?
Those are the three choices you can vote for in this name-a-rocket contest the United Launch Alliance is running. The ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is developing the rocket in partnership with Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company.
The rocket was announced last fall, and if everything goes to plan, should be ready for its first flight by 2019. It will be used by both ULA and Blue Origin for missions.
You have about two weeks to vote before the new name is announced April 13 along with more rocket design details. The names were selected from more than 400 suggestions submitted by ULA’s 3,400 employees and other space enthusiasts, according to the ULA statement.
Perhaps it’s just me, but why do rocket names tend to be so predictable? I mean, “Eagle, Freedom and GalaxyOne” are fine and all, but still, pretty lame.
Rocket names should be more like boat names. Now there are some vessels with some personality.
