PASADENA, Calif. -- Seven of the recently discovered moons of Uranus may be named after the astronauts killed in Tuesday's space shuttle disaster, scientists said Thursday.
'We have received numerous requests that the astronauts killed in the explosion of the shuttle Challenger be commemorated through the assignment of their names to seven of the newly discovered moons of Uranus,' the head of the Working Group on Planetary Systems Nomenclature at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a prepared statement.
'This suggestion will be forwarded for appropriate action to the International Astronomical Union,' said the statement signed by Harold Masursky and five of his colleagues in the group, which forwards recommendations for names to the International Astronomical Union.
Moons of planets are usually named after figures from literature, JPL spokesman Bob MacMillan said. The five previously known moons of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare's plays.
In the San Joaquin Valley community of Elk Grove, students at Franklin Elementary School have launched a similar campaign, adding the names of Virgil Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee, the three astronauts killed in a fire on Jan. 27, 1967, in their Apollo spacecraft as it underwent ground tests at Cape Canaveral, then known as Cape Kennedy.
Officials in Long Beach later named three three man-made offshore islands after those astronauts.
Franklin Principal Irene West said Wednesday that youngsters at the school will be mailing their letters to researchers at JPL. The idea gained immediate favor because one of the seven killed this week was a teacher, she said.
In Washington, Rep. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who flew on the previous shuttle mission, said Wednesday he would introduce legislation to name seven newly discovered Uranus moons after the Challenger crew members.
