r/spaceshuttle

I’ve been reading about the Shuttle Baseline Reference Missions—particularly Baseline Reference Mission 3A/3B, which were arguably the most influential in shaping the Shuttle’s design and planform.

These missions involved launching from Vandenberg AFB, deploying or retrieving a satellite within a single orbit—roughly 30 minutes—and then returning immediately to VAFB. It’s an unusual and highly constrained profile with limited real‑world utility, but it opens up some fascinating fictional possibilities.

One issue that struck me is the timeline. With only half an hour on orbit, there would be no time for prebreathe protocols, suit‑up, and EVA preparation if the Canadarm were unable to deploy or retrieve the payload. My assumption is that in such a case, the mission simply couldn’t accomplish its objective.

However, it made me wonder about the theoretical feasibility of a more extreme approach:

Could suited astronauts have pre‑breathed on the ground and been loaded into the payload bay—possibly even mounted to the Canadarm or a restraint system—so they were EVA‑ready immediately after reaching orbit?

My questions for the community are:

>Rapid‑EVA concepts — Was anything like this ever seriously considered? My research suggests not.
>Alternative rapid‑response ideas — Were there any other studies on extremely fast EVA capability for Shuttle missions?
>Launch survivability — In principle, could a fully suited astronaut survive launch in the payload bay if properly restrained and supplied with life support?

Interested to hear any thoughts, technical insights, or historical references anyone may have.

i am in the midst of a MAJOR space obsession right now.... spurred by Project Hail Mary, Interstellar, Ad Astra, First man, etc. over the past few weeks i have been building a list of potential names for space shuttles for personal use and i figured i'd throw my hat in the ring and share them here. i'll break down my reasoning for my picks at the end of the post!

• Tenacity
• Grace
• Wayfarer
• Aquila
• Saturn
• Columbus
• Hope
• Magellan
• Millennium Falcon
• Pioneer
• Arroyo Seco
• Constellation
• Kitty Hawk
• Cowboy
• Beagle
• Irish Rover
• Orion
• Capricorn
• Explorer
• Dead Sea (a personal favorite for some reason)
• Maine
• Arizona
• Mayflower
• Ranger
• Kraken
• Endurance
• Icarus
• Selene
• Aquarius
• Romulus
• Remus
• Rome
• Othello
• Juno
• Ops
• Triton
• Odyssey
• Eagle
• Intrepid
• Antares
• Gumdrop
• Yankee Clipper
• Casper
• Gemini
• Mercury
• Destiny
• Pilgrim
• Kon-Tiki
• Victoria
• Nebula
• Voyager
• Pegasus
• Unicorn
• Atlas
• Titan
• Gaia
• Saratoga
• Midway
• Tycho
• Olympus
• Fra Mauro
• Conestoga (courtesy u/GusBode)
• Resilience (courtesy u/devoduder)
• Perseverance (courtesy u/Enough-Astronomer-65)
• Integrity (courtesy u/Enough-Astronomer-65)
• New Horizons (courtesy u/Enough-Astronomer-65)
• Calypso (courtesy u/Enough-Astronomer-65)
• Scout
• Valiant
• Curiosity

of the six space shuttles built, four were named after famous sailing ships (Endeavour, Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia), one was named after a general principle of science (Discovery), and one was a pop culture reference (Enterprise). i tried to stick with those four categories for my list, for the most part. but i also noticed that Endeavour, Challenger, and Columbia happened to share names with lunar modules! so i adopted that rule for myself as well. i have also seen people mention naming them after famous explorers and historical figures.

now for the breakdown:

• SAILING SHIPS: Tenacity, Constellation, Beagle, Irish Rover, Maine, Arizona, Mayflower, Endurance, Kon-Tiki, Victoria, Saratoga, Midway, Valiant.

• SCIENCE & EXPLORATION: Tenacity, Grace, Wayfarer, Hope, Pioneer, Cowboy, Explorer, Ranger, Endurance, Intrepid, Destiny, Pilgrim, Voyager, Conestoga, Resilience, Perseverance, Integrity, New Horizons, Scout, Valiant, Curiosity.

• CULTURAL, MYTHOLOGICAL, & HISTORICAL REFERENCES: Aquila, Saturn, Millennium Falcon, Arroyo Seco, Kitty Hawk, Irish Rover, Orion, Capricorn, Kraken, Endurance, Icarus, Selene, Aquarius, Romulus, Remus, Rome, Othello, Juno, Ops, Triton, Odyssey, Gemini, Mercury, Pegasus, Unicorn, Atlas, Titan, Gaia, Olympus, Calypso.

• PREVIOUS NASA SPACECRAFT: Saturn, Orion, Odyssey, Intrepid, Antares, Gumdrop, Yankee Clipper, Casper, Gemini, Mercury, Voyager, Atlas, Titan, Perseverance, Integrity, New Horizons, Calypso, Curiosity.

• HISTORICAL FIGURES: Columbus, Magellan, Tycho.

• SPACE THINGS: Saturn, Constellation, Orion, Antares, Mercury, Nebula, Tycho, Titan, Olympus, Fra Mauro.

• MISCELLANEOUS: Dead Sea.

for the record, i hate Christopher Columbus with every fiber of my being, but it feels plausible to me that a space shuttle could have been named after him had more than six been built.

please do contribute ideas in the comments if you have any!! i would love to read them. i think there's a very specific FEEL to how space shuttles were named and i'm always curious to see names that capture that feel :)

I know it would be expensive but could I do it or is this a question for r/FlightSimSetups