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Writing the question Was a real Space Shuttle ever used as a really big simulator? (and several others) I capitalize Space Shuttle because as far as I know, that's the actual name of NASA's spacecraft, collectively and individually.

  1. Is that right?
  2. Is "Space Shuttle" a proper noun?
  3. Should we capitalize Space Shuttle when referring to
    • each one?
    • all of them as a group?
    • the project itself?
uhoh
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    My tic is that I capitalize Orbiter and the "friendly names" Discovery, etc. Space Shuttle I am inconsistent on and usually just refer to the whole program as "shuttle". There may be a NASA Style Manual. Hmmm. – Organic Marble Sep 13 '19 at 01:15
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    As for Space Shuttle program: Its official name, Space Transportation System (STS), was taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. – amI Sep 13 '19 at 01:53
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    This is a better fit for the English Language SE site. – Paul Sep 13 '19 at 02:21
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    @Paul 1) "better fit" is never, ever a close reason in Stack Exchange. 2) the use of space terminology is absolutely on-topic here. I'll add the terminology tag to make that clearer, and adjust the title. 3) if you read the body of the question rather than just the title, as well as the comments, you'll see that what's needed for an answer is current usage within the spaceflight industry and texts, rather than an English scholar's opinion. So I think this question, as written, is firmly on-topic. – uhoh Sep 13 '19 at 02:30
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    Explaining space terminology is definitely on-topic. Voting to leave open. – DrSheldon Sep 13 '19 at 03:23
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    The proper name for the shuttle was "STS" (Space Transportation System). The space shuttle (or shuttle) were more or less convenient references. Built by RSOC (Rockwell Space Operations Company). A shuttle was never used as a large simulator. The two primary simulators used were the "Motion Base" (for ascent/entry) and "Fixed Base" (for on-orbit) Both simulators were housed next to each other in Building 5 at JSC. The systems instructors (monkeys with the light-pen) interacted with the simulations through old CRT displays that actually used light-pens as input devices. – David C. Rankin Sep 13 '19 at 05:25
  • @DavidC.Rankin any chance those light pens and CRTs looked like these? What were the main uses of the large CRT and light pen on early PDP computers? – uhoh Sep 13 '19 at 08:42
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    Wikipedia capitalizes Space Shuttle, and that is how I see it used most often. But do we really need to bother about this? Why not let each author decide? – Polygnome Sep 13 '19 at 10:01
  • @Polygnome in stack exchange you only need to bother with posts that you are interested in addressing; if you find a question "bothersome" to answer, then you can simply ignore it and check out all of the other unanswered questions. – uhoh Sep 13 '19 at 13:55
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    @uhoh here is a picture of an original SMS lightpen https://imgur.com/a/0qEEdKZ It was carefully preserved and was brought out for the very last Shuttle sim, which is when the picture was taken. – Organic Marble Sep 13 '19 at 15:14
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    @OrganicMarble excellent, thanks for the historic experience! – uhoh Sep 13 '19 at 15:20
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    @uhoh the lightpens went along with insanely clunky keyboards. Look how thick they are! Very comfortable to type on - not. https://imgur.com/a/ZZOfIT6 – Organic Marble Sep 13 '19 at 15:44
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    @uhoh - yep, that was an early version of the very same light-pens used. Post Challenger return to flight, the instructor stations had 3-4 color TV quality CRT displays to interact with. The keyboard for interacting with the displays was a large metal box with normal character keys at the center surrounded on all sides by brightly colored specialty keys. The light-pen was on about a 6-foot tether. The various screens available would provided access to schematics of the shuttle systems and panels where the light-pens would be used change state to simulate failures. – David C. Rankin Sep 13 '19 at 19:41
  • "better fit" is never, ever a close reason in Stack Exchange Nonsense. The Close button popup itself says "vote to close questions that could be improved, may already have answers, or belong on another Stack Exchange site." – Russell Borogove Aug 07 '21 at 02:13
  • @RussellBorogove When used properly, that option is of course valid, but each site decides which options for "another site" to provide, and you must choose from that list. Just typing "closing because it's a better fit elsewhere" and then choosing a different close reason because "better fit elsewhere" is not available is not a valid close reason. – uhoh Aug 07 '21 at 02:29
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    Colorless green close reasons sleep furiously! – Russell Borogove Aug 07 '21 at 02:31
  • @RussellBorogove wait, there seems to be a difference in the popup since last I remember it. I don't see what I'm talking about now, and I also can't find "belong on another Stack Exchange site" either. Can you help me find that or generate a screenshot? Thanks! – uhoh Aug 07 '21 at 02:32
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    Click Close, read the first lines. Click the "Community specific reason" radio button. Click the "other - add a comment" button. For the record, IMO this is the correct site for the question. – Russell Borogove Aug 07 '21 at 02:37
  • @RussellBorogove ya, that "belongs on" option with specific choices seems to be gone now for some reason. Now we can vote to close questions for anything; dividing by zero, mixing metaphors, dangling participles... – uhoh Aug 07 '21 at 02:44
  • We could always vote to close questions for anything. So you'd better keep your metaphors unmixed and your participles snugly secured. – Russell Borogove Aug 07 '21 at 02:48
  • @RussellBorogove and my tennis rackets safely secured in the overhead bin – uhoh Aug 07 '21 at 02:50

1 Answers1

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This is largely an opinion-based answer, because natural language is a matter of opinion.

I capitalize Space Shuttle because as far as I know, that's the actual name of NASA's spacecraft, collectively and individually.

Is that right?

NASA's official terminology is "Space Transportation System", but if you use the term "Space Shuttle", everyone knows you mean STS. NASA does use the term "Space Shuttle", especially in public-facing material (and maybe they've entirely given up on calling it STS by now).

The spaceplane part of STS, alone, which I think is what you're referring to, is called the Orbiter (or Space Shuttle Orbiter, or STS Orbiter), but again, colloquially, if you refer to a Space Shuttle, most people will probably think of the Orbiter rather than the full stack. "Orbiter" does run into a bit of a problem: five spaceworthy shuttles were built, plus Enterprise, which wasn't equipped for spaceflight, and was used in atmospheric approach-and-landing tests. It could be argued that it's not strictly accurate to call it an "Orbiter" or a "spaceplane" or a "space shuttle", but "Space Shuttle Glider" might be unnecessary pedantry.

Is "Space Shuttle" a proper noun?

When used as a substitute for STS, yes. Improper/uncapitalized, it would be ambiguous whether you meant STS or some other reusable Earth-to-orbit system such as Buran or a hypothetical future system.

Should we capitalize Space Shuttle when referring to each one? all of them as a group? the project itself?

  • "A space shuttle": some surface-to-orbit reusable spacecraft and/or system.
  • "A Space Shuttle": one of the spacecraft constructed and operated by the STS program; context may establish whether the orbiter or the stack is being referred to.
  • "The Space Shuttles", "the Space Shuttle Orbiters": the group of orbital vehicles constructed for the STS program.
  • "The Space Shuttle Program" (informal), "The Space Transportation System Program", "The STS Program" (more formal): the program as a whole.

I've even seen very informal use of the capitalized word "Shuttle" to refer to the entire program in constructions of the form "Apollo be like this but Shuttle be like that."

Russell Borogove
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