Spacecraft call signs are radio call signs used for communication in crewed spaceflight. These are not formalized or regulated to the same degree as other equivalent forms of transportation, like aircraft. The three nations currently launching crewed space missions use different methods to identify the ground and space radio stations; the United States uses either the names given to the space vehicles or else the project name and mission number. Russia traditionally assigns code names as call signs to individual cosmonauts, more in the manner of aviator call signs, rather than to the spacecraft.
The only continuity in call signs for spacecraft has been the issuance of "ISS"-suffixed (or "-1SS", for its visual similarity) call signs by various countries in the Amateur Radio service as a citizen of their country has been assigned there. The first Amateur Radio call sign assigned to the International Space Station was NA1SS by the United States. OR4ISS (Belgium), GB1SS (UK),[1] DP0ISS (Germany), and RS0ISS (Russia) are examples of others, but are not all-inclusive of others also issued.
United States
In America's first crewed space program Project Mercury, the astronauts named their individual spacecraft. These names each consisted of a significant word followed by the number 7 (representing the seven original astronauts) and were used as the call signs by the capsule communicators (CAPCOMs).
In Project Gemini, the astronauts were not officially permitted to name their two-man spacecraft, which was identified by "Gemini" followed by the mission number (3 through 12). A notable exception was that Gus Grissom named his Gemini 3 spacecraft Molly Brown after the Titanic survivor, as a joke based on his experience with his Liberty Bell 7 capsule sinking. This name was used as a call sign by CAPCOM L. Gordon Cooper, without NASA's approval.
The practice of using the mission number continued through the first two flights of the Project Apollo crewed lunar landing program, Apollo 7 and Apollo 8. But all remaining Apollo missions included two crewed spacecraft (Command/Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Module (LM)) on each flight, which required the use of separate call signs for each vehicle when they flew independently of each other. For this reason, NASA permitted the three-man crews to name both crafts for each of their missions, and these names were used as the call signs. A temporary exception to this was on the first Moon landing, Apollo 11: since the first Moon landing site was in the Sea of Tranquillity, the call sign Tranquillity Base was used while the LM was on the lunar surface. Before and after the independent flight of the LM, the mission number was used as the call sign. The Apollo call signs were:
For project Skylab, the practice returned to using the mission name as the spacecraft call sign, since the Skylab station was left uncrewed while the shuttle vehicle (an Apollo CSM) carried a crew to it or back to Earth.
The six Space Shuttle orbiters were given individual names (they also had letter-and-number callsigns) by NASA, which were used as the call signs: Enterprise (OV-101, which was not fitted for spaceflight), Columbia (OV-102), Challenger (OV-099), Discovery (OV-103), Atlantis (OV-104), and Endeavour (OV-105). Of these, Columbia, Challenger, and Endeavour had previously served as call-signs of Apollo spacecraft.
SpaceXCrew Dragon capsules use two calls signs. Dragon is used as a generic call sign, particularly if the capsule has not been named. The name of the spacecraft is also used as a call sign. The name and call sign of each Crew Dragon, as given by the crew of the spacecraft's initial mission, is:
Endeavour, which was named for the space shuttle Endeavour, had previously served as call signs for both an Apollo spacecraft and the spacecraft's namesake shuttle.[6] The name Freedom honors Freedom 7, the space capsule used by Alan Shepard's Mercury Redstone 3, the first United States human spaceflight mission.[7]
The call sign SpaceX is used by the Crew Operations and Resources Engineer (CORE) (the SpaceX equivalent of the CAPCOM in Houston) at SpaceX Mission Control (MCC-X) in Hawthorne, California.[8][9]
Boeing Starliner capsules use the generic call sign Starliner. The only named Starliner capsule, Starliner Spacecraft 3, was named Calypso by Boeing Crewed Flight Test pilot Sunita Williams and can use that name as an alternate call sign. As Boeing Mission Control (MCC-CST) is located at the Johnson Space Center, the standard JSC call sign Houston is used.
Russia (including the former Soviet Union)
The spacecraft of the Soviet Union were not individually named, nor are those of Russia today. Only the general type of spacecraft, for example, "Vostok," "Soyuz," or "Soyuz-T" is publicly announced after launch, usually followed by the number of the flight of that type of spacecraft. The Soviet and now Russian call signs are more nearly code words, and so are not disclosed before launch. Each is given to a particular cosmonaut who commands a spacecraft, generally staying as his or her designation from spacecraft to spacecraft. The other crew members use the same call sign with a number of their rank in the chain of command suffixed. Russian popular journalism refers to the crew by the plural of the call sign (for example, "the Fotons").
Kedr, meaning "cedar," was the call sign of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. It would have disclosed nothing to a listener concerning the momentousness of the flight. The rest of the call signs of the Vostok series were the names of birds. Pavel Popovich and Andriyan Nikolayev's call signs in their joint flight in Vostok-3 and Vostok-4, Sokol ("falcon") and Berkut ("golden eagle"), were widely popularized by Soviet media. The call sign of the launch facility itself for Vostok was nearly a code word: Zarya, meaning "dawn".
Early Soyuz flights intent on practicing docking procedures were given call signs elaborating on the first few letters of an alphabet. Soyuz 4, which had the call sign Amur, docked with Soyuz 5, called Baikal - the names derived from a railway project of that era, intending to link those two geographical features. Soyuz 6 was given a call sign equivalent to "Antaeus," which referred to the largest aircraft of the era, the Antonov 22. Its mission in a group flight was to film the intended docking of Soyuz 7 (called Buran, which means "snowstorm") with Soyuz 8, called Granit ("granite") - standard Soviet military call signs. The equivalent for the letter A was Aktif, meaning "Active"; it would be inappropriate for the mission of Soyuz 6.
Later Soyuz flights to the Salyut space stations and Mir had less noteworthy call signs: Foton, meaning "photon", etc.
In contrast to the naming conventions applied by the Soviet Union and now Russia, most American space flights, with the exception of those of Project Gemini and early Apollo flights, have had their spacecraft officially named. Calls to ground facilities by radiotelephone use the name of the spacecraft (e.g., "The Eagle has landed") as the call sign.
International Space Station
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The call sign of the International Space Station was Alpha, now Station.
When different space missions and different control centers work together in joint operations, for example when a Dragon capsule docks to the ISS, NASA connects all communication channels using what is known as the Big Loop.[10] When communicating on the Big Loop, one can hear the call signs Dragon, Starliner, SpaceX, Houston and Station at any given time.
The following Call signs are available for use on the ISS:[11]
RUSSIAN: RS0ISS
USA: NA1SS
EUROPEAN: DP0ISS, OR4ISS, IR0ISS
The following callsigns are called when the crew needs to contact one of the field centers on the ground what ever segment they are in when performing experiments:[12]
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.
Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft in a body of water, usually by parachute. The method has been used primarily by American crewed capsules including NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Orion along with the private SpaceX Dragon. It is also possible for the Russian Soyuz and the Chinese Shenzhou crewed capsules to land in water, though this is only a contingency.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
A space rendezvous is a set of orbital maneuvers during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance. Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities and position vectors of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant distance through orbital station-keeping. Rendezvous may or may not be followed by docking or berthing, procedures which bring the spacecraft into physical contact and create a link between them.
A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surface from orbit or sub-orbit, and are distinguished from other types of recoverable spacecraft by their blunt shape, not having wings and often containing little fuel other than what is necessary for a safe return. Capsule-based crewed spacecraft such as Soyuz or Orion are often supported by a service or adapter module, and sometimes augmented with an extra module for extended space operations. Capsules make up the majority of crewed spacecraft designs, although one crewed spaceplane, the Space Shuttle, has flown in orbit.
A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule. It is used in the event of a critical emergency to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, such as an impending explosion. The LES is typically controlled by a combination of automatic rocket failure detection, and a manual activation for the crew commander's use. The LES may be used while the launch vehicle is on the launch pad, or during its ascent. Such systems are usually of three types:
A mission patch is a cloth reproduction of a spaceflight mission emblem worn by astronauts and other personnel affiliated with that mission. It is usually executed as an embroidered patch. The term space patch is mostly applied to an emblem designed for a crewed space mission. Traditionally, the patch is worn on the space suit that astronauts and cosmonauts wear when launched into space. Mission patches have been adopted by the crew and personnel of many other space ventures, public and private.
NASA's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, also known by its radio callsign, Houston, is the facility at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, that manages flight control for the United States human space program, currently involving astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The center is in Building 30 at the Johnson Space Center and is named after Christopher C. Kraft Jr., a NASA engineer and manager who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control operation, and was the first Flight Director.
The Boeing Starliner is a class of partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing, with the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) of NASA as the lead customer. The spacecraft consists of a crew capsule that can be reused on up to ten missions and an expendable service module.
Development of the Commercial Crew Program (CCDev) began in the second round of the program, which was rescoped from a smaller technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). To implement the program, NASA awarded a series of competitive fixed-price contracts to private vendors starting in 2011. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing, and NASA expected each company to complete development and achieve crew rating in 2017. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019.
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by American space company SpaceX, for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. There are two variants of the Dragon spacecraft: Crew Dragon, capable of ferrying four crewmembers, and Cargo Dragon, a replacement for the original Dragon 1 used to carry freight to and from space. The spacecraft consists of a reusable space capsule and an expendable trunk module. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and the capsule returns to Earth through splashdown. It has proven to be the most cost effective spacecraft in history to be used by NASA.
Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe-CFT) is the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule. Launched on 5 June 2024, the mission flew a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station. The mission was meant to last eight days, ending with a landing in the American Southwest on 14 June. However, the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned and helium leaked as Starliner docked with the ISS, and NASA decided not to fly the spacecraft back to Earth until the problems were solved or at least better understood. Wilmore and Williams remain aboard the ISS, 72 days after their launch. NASA says it plans to decide by mid-August how to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth: on Starliner or on a SpaceX Dragon capsule with the Boeing spacecraft returning uncrewed.
SpaceX Crew-1 was the first operational crewed flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the maiden flight of the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. It was also the second crewed orbital flight launch by the United States since that of STS-135 in July 2011. Resilience launched on 16 November 2020 at 00:27:17 UTC on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all members of the Expedition 64 crew. The mission was the second overall crewed orbital flight of the Crew Dragon.
The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides commercially operated crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between the expeditions of the International Space Station program. American space manufacturer SpaceX began providing service in 2020, using the Crew Dragon spacecraft, and NASA plans to add Boeing when its Boeing Starliner spacecraft becomes operational no earlier than 2025. NASA has contracted for six operational missions from Boeing and fourteen from SpaceX, ensuring sufficient support for ISS through 2030.
SpaceX Crew-2 was the second operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the third overall crewed orbital flight of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission was launched on 23 April 2021 at 09:49:02 UTC, and docked to the International Space Station on 24 April at 09:08 UTC.
SpaceX Crew-5 was the fifth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the eighth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission was successfully launched on 5 October 2022 with the aim of transporting four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS on 6 October 2022 at 21:01UTC.
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