Here at the Firefly Ship Works, there is no greater mission than keeping Serenity alive in the hearts and minds of Browncoats everyone. And, of course, in the process of doing just that, if we can bring a few new recruits over to the Independent’s point of view, well – bonus!
Right now NASA is conducting a survey to determine the name of the latest addition to the International Space Station (ISS), which is currently dubbed the entirely unpoetical “Node 3″. NASA realizes this is far from ideal, so has asked denizens of the Cortex what to name the node – which offers, among other things, a panoramic view of space and Earth That Is. Choices in the survey are “Earthrise”, “Legacy”, “Venture” and “Serenity”. You can probably guess which one we’re recommending.
Voting runs through March 20, 2009. So get yourself on over to: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/name_ISS/index.html and vote.
Spread this one around – everywhere Browncoats congregate. It’s about time the best sci fi TV series of all time got it’s name on something from NASA. And a major fixture on Earth’s first permanent place in space seems more than appropriate, dong ma?
By the way, we’ve now added the “ShareThis” widget to the Ship Works (see below). Makes it real easy to share what you find here and spread the word over all your favorite social networks, blogs and IM!
Special thanks to Jim in St. Louis for bringin’ this one to our attention!
Thanks for posting this Andy! I know we can count on the Coretechs and Browncoats everywhere to finally get Serenity out of atmo for real. If she is christened Serenity, the next step will be to petition NASA to put the logo on the outside of the new node.
jim
THANKS for letting us know about this! I put up a few forum announcements on the CSTS 2009 Global site. Hope that rallies some support!
They can’t take the sky from us!
BTW, looks like you can post one vote per user per day.
On the picture showing the panorama windows from the inside, I can imagine Wash’s dinosaurs on the computer console
I have friends at NASA, so I voted about ten minutes into the survey. Every one of them sent me a notice to vote. It certainly helps that all of them are Browncoats.
Thank you is an understatement, this is great news! I’ll have my whole Platoon vote right away, lets pull together and make this happen!
this is great and i vote for wash is my co-pilot number plate on it as well
you can vote once a day so keep checking the link. we were at a high of 96% shortly after I cross posted this to whedonesque and few Firefly boards last week. Hopefully we can stay above 80% for the rest of the contest. If it does get named I will do my best to see about getting a sticker or something put on the inside of the module. just imagine the view from their watching their Firefly/Serenity DVD’s(which have been up there since STS-117) during a break.
Case anyone hasn’t seen yet… current vote for Serenity is at 82%!
A friend of mine wondered what the point was since it will be abandoned in 2015. I told him that it would become an abandoned piece of space junk named Serenity….what could be more fitting?
You could also tell him that the Enterprise’s NASA namesake never even flew under it’s own power, much less achieved escape velocity!
Like the saying goes…
Vote early and vote often.
I know I am.
Ummmm…….
Isn’t this like asking the Alliance to name one of their ships after Serenity?
Apparently, people weren’t paying attention to the show…..
???
Okay, I’m probably being dense here. But I think I need you to explain a little bit more, Brian. How does NASA = The Alliance?
I think AT&T = The Alliance. Don’t tell my wife I said that, she works for the evil empire
Serenity is up to 83%
Jim in LA
I’m getting my votes in. Although, I have to say that after reading the functions of Node 3 (engineering and support), perhaps we should be voting to name it “Kaylee.”
It makes perfect sense for the Alliance to name a ship “Serenity.” Serenity Valley was the decisive battle of the war. It showed the heart and courage of the Independents in excellent light, produced heroes on both sides, and established the Alliance as THE political and military authority in the Verse. Mal was most likely awarded his medal by the Alliance. After Serenity Valley, there would be no significant Independent military structure left, and there probably was no central Independent government to start with. So it stands to reason that it was the Alliance that honored the Independent veterans, much the same way the Union honored veterans of the CSA.
So, would there be an Alliance ship named “Serenity?” Bet on it. (Although, she would probably be named “Serenity Valley” and called “Serenity” for short by her crew.)
In the Firefly ‘verse, the Alliance is the government… Since NASA is a government entity, this is akin to having the Alliance name a ship after their enemy. Perhaps Dortmunder would be more appropriate for NASA’s project.
Jim in St. Louis: AT&T is a company, not the government. They’re like Blue Sun, which you ironically have as an icon…
Not to sound snarky or anything, but did/do you guys actually WATCH the show? I’m a bit taken aback at these major story elements being completely missed.
BTW, great work on the Serenity model. Will it be available to build or will it be only available as a pre-built?
Serenity up to 85%, looks like this is gonna be a landslide!
Hi Brian – Seeing as the government is pretty much the only group/organization making space vehicles right now, our options would be kind of limited if we excluded them. Also, I’m pretty sure the Independent’s had some kind of government during the war to deal with all those things governments must deal with in wartime. I don’t think the point of the Alliance was to say all governments are evil. I think the point was that any government unchecked by the power of the governed is very likely to be evil a whole lot of the time.
Also, anytime someone starts a sentence off “not to sound snarky,” it pretty much telegraphs that is exactly what they intend to be.
Just sayin’
Brian Says:
“Jim in St. Louis: AT&T is a company, not the government. They’re like Blue Sun, which you ironically have as an icon…”
I stand corrected Brian. I however consider Blue Sun as a tool of the Alliance to monitor and control the masses. So, I consider Blue sun the government. Anyway, my point was simply to compare the ever growing and expanding AT&T to the Alliance.
Bad Joke I Guess
LOL. I know, but in this case it really wasn’t meant to be that way. In my hastiness, I couldn’t think of a better way to word it.
Will Serenity be available to build or will it be only available as a pre-built?
Hi Brian – Serenity will be available as a replica, only. But, I think once you see what the FX company will do with that, you’ll be pretty amazed.
The tally as of March 14, 2009 is
Earthrise 8%
Legacy 11%
Serenity 74%
Venture 7%