PROJECT MERCURY VS PROJECT VOSTOK CODE

Soviet and now Russian call signs are given to individual cosmonauts, and are not disclosed publicly before launch. Instead, their call sign often refers to the type of spacecraft being used followed by its mission number. Russian missions don’t have individual names for their spacecraft. In radio communications however the base was simply referred to as Houston, as it was located in the city of Houston in Texas. Since the Gemini 4 mission, the control centre for NASA missions had been housed in NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center, which in 1973 was renamed the Lyndon B. Whilst the call signs of the spacecraft were given special names, the mission control call sign was much simpler. Once Eagle landed on the lunar surface the call sign used switched to that used for the base on the lunar surface – T ranquillity Base – rather than the lunar module itself.įind out more about Apollo 9 and 10 Houston They were renamed Columbia and Eagle, respectively. However, NASA felt that these names did not inspire much confidence in the spacecraft or the mission. Originally the crew of Apollo 11 named the command module S nowcone and the lunar module Haystack, based on the shapes of the vehicles. The crew for each mission was responsible for naming both the command and lunar module. For this mission and those that followed therefore, it became necessary to give each part of the spacecraft individual call signs. However, in 1969 the Apollo 9 mission used two different spacecraft: the lunar module and the command module. Project Apollo kept up the trend of taking inspiration from classical mythology: Apollo was a significant God to both the Greeks and the Romans.įor the Apollo 7 and 8 missions, call signs were limited to simply mission name and number. After this suggestion NASA relented: Molly Brown was a lot more appealing as a nickname.Īlthough Project Gemini was named after the constellation - pronounced ‘jeh-min-eye’ - NASA declared the official pronunciation of the operation to be ‘geh-mih-nee’. When NASA suggested Molly Brown might be an inappropriate nickname, Grissom offered to name it Titanic instead. Naming his craft after a Titanic survivor was an ironic reference to Grissom's experience piloting Project Mercury spacecraft Liberty-Bell 7, which had sunk after splashlanding back on Earth. However, Gemini 3 command module pilot Gus Grissom nicknamed his spacecraft Molly Brown after the Titanic survivor and New York socialite. Instead each individual spacecraft was simply referred to as ‘Gemini’ followed by the number of the mission.

The astronauts of NASA’s second human spaceflight mission, Project Gemini, were not officially allowed to name their spacecraft. Some of the words used for these call signs included: This number represented the seven original astronauts who made up Project Mercury. Each call sign followed the same pattern: a word followed by the number seven. These names were chosen by the astronaut in command of each craft. Project Mercury also used call signs that referred to individual spacecraft. The name Mercury comes from classical mythology – Mercury is a Roman God. Eisenhower, the US President at the time, felt that this gave too much prominence to the astronauts, and so the name was changed. Originally Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight programme run by the United States, was named Project Astronaut. Often the names take inspiration from what the mission symbolises, or a famous voyage from history or popular culture. Traditionally they have not been as regulated as other call signs, such as the ones used for aircraft. Throughout NASA’s history, there have been phases where the call sign was decided upon by the crew itself.

American call signsĪmerican call signs are used to refer to vehicles, missions or projects.

PROJECT MERCURY VS PROJECT VOSTOK CODE

Call signs that were used in significant missions have gone down in history, with the code words becoming common parlance. What is a spacecraft call sign?Ī call sign is a label given to a vehicle, mission or person in internal communications during missions to space.ĭifferent nations and missions use call signs differently. Used for communication in crewed spaceflights, spacecraft call signs have interesting histories. Why was Apollo called Apollo? | The history of spacecraft call signs

Project mercury vs project vostok