Shenzhou is not a name, it is a designation

[intrinsical]

NASA gives their space crafts both a name and a designation. So for example a Space Shuttle is given the name "Challenger" and the designation "OV-099".

The Chinese however only gave their space craft designations, but did not provide them with names. Thus, there are a series of 神舟 space crafts, numbered 1 to 11. This makes sense as 神舟 when translated into English means "Sky Boat" or as Americans would say, "Space Ship". So an equivalent NASA designation for 神舟-11 would be something like SB-11 or SS-11.

Now, given this context please understand how ridiculous it is to find out that Starfleet has just named one of their starships USS Space Ship, or its long form "United Star Ship Space Ship". No wait, it's worse. It's like Starfleet honoring the very first Warp 5 capable starship, the NX-01 USS Enterprise by christening a new starship with the name USS NX.

I can just imagine the amount of trouble this ship would have with the universal translator. It must be really bad at first contact missions. "This is Captain Han Bo of the Federation star ship Space Ship..." Aliens, "What?? They named their ship Space Ship? They must be a primitive space faring race. "

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I mean, maybe it's like saying "ATM machine" but it's also kinda cool they're giving a hat tip to the first Chinese manned spaceflight program.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I fucking hate Star Trek fans sometimes.

Hugo -

 

[Christopher]

Per Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_(spacecraft)

The name is variously translated as "Divine Craft", "Divine Vessel of God", "Magic Boat" or similar and is also homophonous with an ancient name for China (written 神州; meaning "Divine State").[citation needed]

And here's a citation:
http://www.astronautix.com/s/shenzhou.html

Chinese President Jiang Zemin personally named the spacecraft 'Shenzhou' (variously translated as 'Vessel of the Gods', 'Divine Craft', 'Divine Mechanism'; but also a play on a name for China).

Even China's "mundane" designations tend to be grand in comparison to Western usage. Or at least they can be translated that way.

 

[RAMA]

In the context of the various translations it seems like a fitting name, not just a designation.

In a first contact mission they might just translate it as" divine vessel of god".

 

[jaime]

Enterprise is not a name. It's a word meaning undertaking no?
Challenger...a thing which challenges, typical against the status quo no?
Columbia is at least derived from a name...
Discovery is...something new being found....
Atlantis...is a mythological city, derived from a place name I suppose...
Which did I miss? I am old fashioned and only google when my grey matter really isn't up to it.
Even 'Space Shuttle' is more a nickname than a designation, aren't they officially 'orbiter' or 'orbital vehicle'?
Only one of the shuttles is named after anything directly related to the US, and even then ...where was Columbus from again? Italy? Portugal?
The Shen Zou seems a decent enough name. We could have even more fun looking at the root of other starship names in Trek. I mean the Hawking is named after Stephen, but the name means hunting with birds, dubious selling, or spitting. So a great shuttle for use with Romulans, ferengi and Klingons really.

 

[Jinn]

In the novels there are two Ferengi ships called 75th Rule and 62nd Rule.

 

[RAMA]

While the shows were made for American TV and the writing of the names are in English, a lot of the names are translatable as other words in other languages, such as "Invincible", "Discovery", "Nebula" or "Repulse" though some of those names have a very definite link with naval history of certain countries..

RAMA

Enterprise is not a name. It's a word meaning undertaking no?
Challenger...a thing which challenges, typical against the status quo no?
Columbia is at least derived from a name...
Discovery is...something new being found....
Atlantis...is a mythological city, derived from a place name I suppose...
Which did I miss? I am old fashioned and only google when my grey matter really isn't up to it.
Even 'Space Shuttle' is more a nickname than a designation, aren't they officially 'orbiter' or 'orbital vehicle'?
Only one of the shuttles is named after anything directly related to the US, and even then ...where was Columbus from again? Italy? Portugal?
The Shen Zou seems a decent enough name. We could have even more fun looking at the root of other starship names in Trek. I mean the Hawking is named after Stephen, but the name means hunting with birds, dubious selling, or spitting. So a great shuttle for use with Romulans, ferengi and Klingons really.

 

[jaime]

While the shows were made for American TV and the writing of the names are in English, a lot of the names are translatable as other words in other languages, such as "Invincible", "Discovery", "Nebula" or "Repulse" though some of those names have a very definite link with naval history of certain countries..

RAMA

Yes I was mainly defending the Shen zou name against silliness.. and of course, as is discussed elsewhere at the moment...of course the British Navy is still around in Trek...it's clearly the official name on paper of Starfleet. XD

 

[Mudd]

I fucking hate Star Trek fans sometimes.

Hugo -

Fo' real.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Shenzhou is also the name of an asteroid (named after the Shenzhou spacecraft) and of a city in China:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_City

 

[Hound of UIster]

The city is written 深州 not 神舟. The characters used are completely different.

Now, given this context please understand how ridiculous it is to find out that Starfleet has just named one of their starships USS Space Ship, or its long form "United Star Ship Space Ship". No wait, it's worse. It's like Starfleet honoring the very first Warp 5 capable starship, the NX-01 USS Enterprise by christening a new starship with the name USS NX.

Funny you mention this, but Shenzhou is often mentioned in the chinese media and English affiliates as 神舟飞船 or Shenzhou Spaceship, which per you sensibilities would be the equivalent Spaceship Spaceship!

One example just from People's Daily:
http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/1017/c202936-9128256.html.

So spaceship/spacecraft, 飞船 and 神舟 are not interchangeable.

I think we should just fault the people who named it for their lack of imagination.

 

[JoeP]

No worse than The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim translating to The The Angels Angels of Anaheim...

 

[ELURIA]

The La Brea Tar Pits

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The La Brea Tar Pits

The greatest tragedy of the tartar pits was that they gave the sabretooth cats some nasty cavities and gum disease.

Now, given this context please understand how ridiculous it is to find out that Starfleet has just named one of their starships USS Space Ship, or its long form "United Star Ship Space Ship". No wait, it's worse. It's like Starfleet honoring the very first Warp 5 capable starship, the NX-01 USS Enterprise by christening a new starship with the name USS NX.

But they're not naming it after what it translates to (which is not as simplistic as you describe anyway, as shown above), they're naming it after what it represents, the first Chinese manned spacecraft.

It's entirely possible there could be a USS SpaceShipTwo dedicated to the Virgin Galactic private spaceplanes (currently the crashed VSS Enterprise and the surviving VSS Unity) as pioneers of civilian spaceflight. They even currently take off from Mojave Air and Space Port, which could give rise to the buildup of the city of Mojave evident in Captain Pike's time.

 

[zar]

I can just imagine the amount of trouble this ship would have with the universal translator. It must be really bad at first contact missions. "This is Captain Han Bo of the Federation star ship Space Ship..." Aliens, "What?? They named their ship Space Ship? They must be a primitive space faring race. "

This is the real story of the disastrous Klingon first contact, actually. Humans: "What? They named their empire 'Imperial Empire'? They must be a primitive race." Decades of war ensued.

 

[sojourner]

I am more disappointed that they felt the need to give an Asian captain an asian named ship. A bit on the nose?

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

I don't know. I kinda like the sound of that. It has a nice ring to it:

U.S.S. Divine Machine Vessel of God.

But then of course, that leads us to the question: What does God need with a starship?

 

[BillJ]

I am more disappointed that they felt the need to give an Asian captain an asian named ship. A bit on the nose?

Maybe she is honoring something from her culture?

 

[sojourner]

Maybe she is honoring something from her culture?

"She" who? one of the producers?