SpaceX Drone Ship Names: Know the story behind each name coined by Elon Musk

SpaceX has earned enormous respect over the years for paving the way for reusable rocket boosters. After all, who would want to invest in a vehicle that's only capable of being used once? SpaceX founder Elon Musk took it upon himself to name each and every one of the famous SpaceX drone ships that carry the rocket boosters. Avid followers of Elon Musk's Twitter handle will be aware of the billionaire's offbeat side with his frequent references to sci-fi memes. This time, the founder takes it one step further by bringing his love for sci-fi novels to the SpaceX drone ships.

SpaceX Drone Ship Names

The trend started six years ago when Musk announced via Twitter that he had named the company's first spaceport drone ship "Just Read the Instructions." Soon enough, he clarified the meaning behind the name, revealing that he did so in honour of Iain M Banks. For those who aren't familiar, Iain M Banks is a famous science fiction author who was the man behind the Culture Series. The naming ceremony didn't stop there as the founder went onto name the second autonomous boat "Of Course I Still Love You".

Furthermore, SpaceX's CEO has also paid tribute to the cult classic Star Wars franchise by naming the Falcon rockets after the Millennium Falcon. Musk has also referenced classic poems and songs through his engineering work. Some examples of the SpaceX drone ship names are the Dragon capsule that takes after "Puff the Magic Dragon," a popular song from the 1960s music band Peter, Paul and Mary. According to Tesmanian, the pun is in the details as the capsule is meant to land in the ocean after a full flight mission success, which is synonymous with the song lyrics "Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea."

Next, Mars designed Superheavy Starship was named “Heart of Gold”, which is inspired by Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Over the years, netizens have picked up on the context and have actually started looking forward to the quirky iconic references as SpaceX continues to soar higher into the stars. 

IMAGE: ELON MUSK TWITTER