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May. 17th, 2010 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_crowin the Knowledge is Everywhere dept.
I read (on APOD) that the shuttle Atlantis was named after R/V (Research Vessel) Atlantis that sailed for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute from 1933 - 60. Which felt kind of like a homecoming. My dad worked for WHOI in the buoy lab, and sailed on Atlantis II (A2 to her friends) for several trips on the Indian Ocean in the 1980s. My dad was also present at the launch of the next R/V Atlantis in 1996. The original Atlantis is on the WHOI sweatshirt I bought when I interned there in the early 80's.
I had no clue what it was named for, although if I'd thought about it I probably would have arrived at something reasonable eventually. Atlantis the city is such a grandly baroque idea that I couldn't think why they'd named a shuttle after it. The other shuttle names (Columbia, Discovery and Endeavor) could all refer to things besides research vessels. Once I realized Atlantis was a more distinguished name than I had thought, I looked up the others.
All ships. All research ships. Sloop Columbia, HMS Discovery, HMS Challenger (followed by another Challenger and Glomar Challenger). Exploration. Science.
As an aging student of oceanography, I am deeply, if irrationally, pleased.
I read (on APOD) that the shuttle Atlantis was named after R/V (Research Vessel) Atlantis that sailed for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute from 1933 - 60. Which felt kind of like a homecoming. My dad worked for WHOI in the buoy lab, and sailed on Atlantis II (A2 to her friends) for several trips on the Indian Ocean in the 1980s. My dad was also present at the launch of the next R/V Atlantis in 1996. The original Atlantis is on the WHOI sweatshirt I bought when I interned there in the early 80's.
I had no clue what it was named for, although if I'd thought about it I probably would have arrived at something reasonable eventually. Atlantis the city is such a grandly baroque idea that I couldn't think why they'd named a shuttle after it. The other shuttle names (Columbia, Discovery and Endeavor) could all refer to things besides research vessels. Once I realized Atlantis was a more distinguished name than I had thought, I looked up the others.
All ships. All research ships. Sloop Columbia, HMS Discovery, HMS Challenger (followed by another Challenger and Glomar Challenger). Exploration. Science.
As an aging student of oceanography, I am deeply, if irrationally, pleased.