Nomenclature-Astronauts and Cosmonauts

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Nomenclature - Astronauts and Cosmonauts


Aldrin
Anders
Armstrong
Belyaev
Bondarenko
Borman
Chaffee
Chawla
Collins
D.Brown
Dobrovol'skiy
Feoktistov
Gagarin
Grissom
Husband
Jarvis
Komarov
L.Clark
Leonov
Lovell
M.Anderson
McAuliffe
McCool
McNair
Nikolaev
Onizuka
Patsaev
Ramon
Resnik
Scobee
Shatalov
Smith
Tereshkova
Titov
Volkov
Walker (X-15 pilot, on the threshold of spaceflight)
White

Of all the people who lived (or still live) on planet Earth, only the names of astronauts and cosmonauts (and dedicated observers/scientists of the moon) (plus astronomers and geophysicists) should be approved as the only true kind of lunar nomenclature. Alas, too much names of people who were NOT-AT-ALL connected to space, earth-sciences, selenology (and selenography) ended up on the moon. We could ask questions about HOW and WHY they ended up there. A huge (to be compiled) alphabetic list of these non-lunar or non-astronomical people could reveal the most bizarre facts of their careers! (some of them much too weird to mention).
The influence of the Nobel prize was (and shall always be) a major keystone in the "race" to put one's name on the moon.
- DannyCaes May 10, 2015

The names of the 12 Apollo astronauts who landed on the moon (6 Commanders and 6 Lunar Module Pilots) should be used as official landmarks at (and very near) their corresponding landing sites.

  • Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin (Apollo 11) are already on the moon, north of their landing site Statio Tranquillitatis, because they performed the very first manned lunar landing (see alphabetic list above).
  • Charles Conrad and Alan Bean (Apollo 12) are waiting...
  • Al Shepard and Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) are waiting...
  • David Scott and James Irwin (Apollo 15) are waiting...
  • John Young and Charles Duke (Apollo 16) are waiting...
  • Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17) are waiting...
  • The Command Module Pilots of Apollo 12 (Richard Gordon), Apollo 13 (Jack Swigert), Apollo 14 (Stuart Roosa), Apollo 15 (Alfred Worden), Apollo 16 (Ken Mattingly), and Apollo 17 (Ronald Evans) are also waiting...
  • The Command Module Pilot of Apollo 11 (Michael Collins) is already on the moon (see alphabetic list above).
  • Of Apollo 13, only James Lovell's name is on the moon, because he was aboard mankind's first circumlunar mission (Apollo 8, together with his comrades Frank Borman and William Anders)(see alphabetic list above).
  • We should not forget Fred Haise, the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 13 who never landed his LM Aquarius... (which must have been the most frustrating experience in the history of mankind!).
  • And then there's also Thomas Stafford of Apollo 10... Note: of Apollo 10, both Eugene Cernan and John Young were also aboard Apollo 17 (Cernan), and Apollo 16 (Young).

See also Phil Stooke's most interesting LPOD The lunar craters Houston, Florida and Texas (Post Apollo 8 nomenclature of several equatorial farside craters).

Danny Caes,
Ghent - Belgium