[MilCom] Off Topic (sorta)

[Steve Douglass]

Gotta teach those astronauts how to use a radio!

_Steve Douglass

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The name of the new vehicle that NASA 
hopes will take astronauts back to the moon was supposed to be 
hush-hush until next week.

But apparently U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, floating 220 miles above 
Earth at the international space station, didn't get the memo.
Williams let it slip Tuesday that the new vehicle's name is Orion.

"We've been calling it the crew exploration vehicle for several 
years, but today it has a name -- Orion," Williams said, taping a 
message in advance for the space agency that was transmitted 
accidentally over space-to-ground radio.


NASA planned to reveal the new name August 31, when the space agency 
also announces which contractor will build the vehicle. Competing for 
the award are Lockheed Martin and a team made up of Northrop Grumman 
and Boeing.
The crew exploration vehicle will replace the space shuttle program 
after it ends in 2010.

Earlier this summer, NASA announced the names of the rockets that 
will propel the crew exploration vehicle and a cargo vehicle, 
respectively Ares I and Ares V.
NASA spokesman Michael Braukus in Washington said the space agency 
has been looking at several names and that nothing was official until 
the formal announcement next week.
"My next phone call is to Houston asking, 'What's going on?"' Braukus said.
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