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This is a draft, work in progress advice to reflect project consensus application of the Manual of Style. Spaceflight articles should conform to the Wikipedia:Manual of Style (and the NASA History Office's Style Guide where possible). However, they should also conform with the style guide.
Naming conventions
- Do not use disambiguation unless it is necessary.
- Use "(satellite)" as a disambiguator for uncrewed spacecraft operating independently in geocentric orbit.
- Use "(spacecraft)" as a disambiguator for other spacecraft.
- Use "(rocket)" as a disambiguator for rockets.
- Use "(rocket family)" as a disambiguator for groups of rockets.
- Use "(missile)" as a disambiguator for missiles, unless the missile's systemic designation can be used to prefix its common name.
- Where possible, use flight/serial numbers for launch articles (e.g. Falcon 9 flight 20), otherwise use a descriptive title of the form "[month] [rocket] launch failure".
- Manufacturers' names in article titles are often preferred over the above-mentioned disambiguators (e.g. Boeing Starliner, SpaceX Starship).
- Use the most recent name or designation (e.g. SpaceX Crew-1) unless there is consensus to do otherwise (e.g. Artemis 1 is preferred over the relatively recent designation "Artemis I").
- Do not use alternative names as disambiguators.
Dates and times
- Since space is not within any Earth-bound time zone, and to avoid regional bias, the WP:WikiProject Spaceflight community has established a consensus (discussed here) to use UTC.
- Dates should be in day-month-year format (7 July 1983).
- Times should use the 24-hour clock (13:47).
Gender-specific language
Per the NASA Style Guide:
In general, all references to the space program should be non-gender-specific (e.g., human, piloted, unpiloted, robotic, as opposed to manned or unmanned). The exception to the rule is when referring to the Manned Spaceflight Center (also known as the Manned Spacecraft Center), the predecessor of Johnson Space Center in Houston, or to any other historical program name or official title that included “manned” (e.g., Associate Administrator for Manned Spaceflight).
This is read as conformance with the Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Gender-neutral language
Capitalization
Space vehicles are usually capitalized (e.g. Apollo Lunar Module, International Space Station). However, there is a consensus that command module and service module should not be capitalized per MOS:CAPS (link). Otherwise, follow the capitalization of NASA Style Guide.
Italics
The style guideline says: "Italic type (text like this) should be used for the names of ... named, specific vessels: ... Spacecraft (often fictional)." The following examples are given: the Space Shuttle Challenger, USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Constitution-class starships
For purposes of the style guide, spacecraft are taken as a metaphoric extension of ocean-going ships; this is exemplified by the term spaceship used in fiction, which denotes a reusable interplanetary or interstellar vessel, the only consumable and expendable part of which is the fuel. Such "spaceships" do not yet truly exist, yet individual spacecraft have been named in this manner, and more can be expected in the future as spaceflight continues to develop.
Examples
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