Thanks!
Still a weird naming scheme though. A rocket is not a new astronaut. Am I missing something clever?
Still a weird naming scheme though. A rocket is not a new astronaut. Am I missing something clever?
Rockets also aren’t planets, and yet: Saturn V
Rockets also aren’t mythological horse/man creatures, and yet: Vulcan Centaur
You’re overthinking it.
Falcon 9 has nine first stage engines, Falcon 1 had a single engine. It's not a version number.
Edit: I had to look it up because Saturn 1 is not a single engine vehicle. It turns out that the Saturn V is design C-5 of the Saturn family of rockets, with A, B and C1-4 designs preceding it (not all designs where built), so the "V" in Saturn V is basically a version number, despite the Saturn V first stage having 5 engines
"Falcon" was almost certainly chosen so the BFR could be pronounced "Big Fucking Rocket", perhaps also influenced by the BFG in Doom/Quake.
Also note how "SpaceX" is pronounced.
The suborbital rocket New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard who was the first American astronaut and whose flight was a suborbital arc.
New Glenn is named after John Glenn whose first flight was the first orbital flight.
There was also talk of a New Armstrong rocket, although Neil Armstrong wasn’t the first American to "reach" the Moon. But then together with Buzz he was the first to land and the first to walk. I don’t know if New Armstrong's still getting developed.