[X] My Assistant

[Phil Stooke]

I have just noticed that the Columbia astronauts are now commemorated with crater names on the lunar farside, as are the Apollo 1 and Challenger crews, and numerous cosmonauts.

Unfortunately - well, I think it's really unfortunate, anyway - deceased Apollo lunar astronauts are still not added to this list. I believe they should be commemorated by craters near their landing sites. The Apollo 11 crew have a trio of craters near their landing site. The usual rule is, you have to be dead for three years, and Apollo 11 is an exception, but for the others I do feel that crater names near the site are appropriate after death.

The Columbia names are given to four craters south of Apollo basin inside the giant South Pole-Aitken basin. Husband, Chawla, McCool and Ramon are the four new names. The other three astronaut names (Anderson, Brown and Clark) already exist elsewhere on the moon, and the new commemoration will be added to those craters (presumably... multiple commemortations already exist).

See

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/

for more details (link to moon, then craters).

Phil