Although it is not scheduled to land four humans on the surface of the moon for more then ten years, the next lunar lander now has a name- Altair.
"We can stop calling it LSAM or esoteric things like that," said Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley. LSAM stands for Lunar Surface Access Module.
The new name also comes with a new logo that pays homage to the original Apollo 11 logo which has the same Eagle facing the other direction (image after the jump).
Altair is the 12th brightest star in the sky and part of the constellation Aquila, which means eagle in Latin. It is also one of the stars that you see in the Summer Triangle. Altair means, "the flying one" in Arabic. Many other stars also owe their names to the early Arabic astronomers- including Betelgeuse, Rigel, Vega, and Aldebaran.
The logo depicts the eagle landing on the moon clutching an olive branch, an image that Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins picked to "unmistakably" communicate that Apollo was a peaceful mission. The new program is carrying on that theme while adapting the triangular shape and the ten stars of the other logos of their program. The ten stars are said to represent the ten NASA centers that are "working to return astronauts to the moon."
Robert Pearlman, who broke the story on his CollectSpace website wrote:
All four insignias, including the Constellation and Altair logos, were
designed for NASA by Michael Okuda, who may be best known for his work on the Star Trek series.
The Constellation program consists of two launch vehicles, Ares I and Ares V. Ares I will launch the Orion capsule- with the crew inside, and Ares V will carry the heavier lunar surface access module, Altair.
Pearlman added:
NASA names next-gen lunar lander Altair [CollectSpace]
Images: CollectSpace and NASA
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Thanks Rob!*
