Why are NASA missions and spacecraft named after pagan gods?

They're named after all sorts of things. The Lunar Modules with names were called Spider, Snoopy, Eagle, Intrepid, Aquarius, Antares, Falcon, and Orion. The named Command Modules were Gumdrop, Charlie Brown, Columbia, Yankee Clipper, Odyssey, Kitty Hawk, Endeavour, Casper, and America. read more

The space shuttles were named Atlantis, Discovery, Challenger, Columbia, Endeavour and Enterprise (though it was only a test vehicle). The Mercury and Apollo missions were named after gods. Both are gods that travel -- Mercury is the messenger of the gods, and Apollo represents the sun itself, so it makes sense. read more

Thanks to Dr. Abe Silverstein, former director of NASA's Glenn Research Center, we'll never know. Silverstein named Mercury and Apollo after mythical Greek gods while he was serving as NASA's Director of Space Flight Programs in the late 1950s. Portrait of Dr. Silverstein. read more

Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology with attractive connotations and the precedent for naming manned spaceflight projects for mythological gods and heroes had been set with Mercury. read more