What are NASA space craft named for? Famous ships of the past? Famous exploration craft? Well, that’s mostly true, but that’s not the only thing. Three famous NASA space craft were named for… Comics characters. Specifically Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Casper. Apollo 10’s Command Module and Lander and the Apollo 16 Command module.
I name a lot of fictional space craft as a gamer and writer and I love this. Only trouble is that comics characters are copyrighted. I can name ships in a private game the USS Dagwood or The USS Catbert, but not in a novel. Well, maybe the Krazy Kat, I think the copyright expired on that one. But keep it in mind if you need ship names for your next private project. There are a lot of names available and it a NASA tradition.