Falcon 9, Starship and beyond: Inside SpaceX's love of cosmic names

SpaceX is famous for plenty of reasons.

First and, perhaps, foremost, is the company's headline-grabbing founder – tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who happens to be the world's richest man. Then there's SpaceX's sheer dominance in the spaceflight industry, a sector in the U.S. where its fleet of rockets and spacecraft seem to be integral to just about every mission that gets off the ground.

But one quality that may be oft-overlooked by anyone other than SpaceX's biggest fans? It's penchant for clever, cosmic-inspired names for anything from the company's rockets to the drone ships where boosters land.

Recently, for instance, SpaceX introduced its Starfall capsule, designed to return payloads from Earth orbit, which launched June 23 on a demo mission from Florida. SpaceX also has now unveiled the name for the previously-announced constellation of AI satellites as part of Musk's lofty goal of operating orbital data centers.

As Musk confirmed on X, the constellation will be called Starmind.

Here's a look at some of the other stellar names SpaceX has conjured up for vehicles and infrastructure critical to its spaceflight program.

Starship megarocket launches from Starbase, Texas

SpaceX has for years been developing the world's largest and most powerful rocket for future lunar and interplanetary missions.

That rocket? Starship.

And its launch site? Starbase.

Under its current design, Starship stands at a whopping 407 feet tall when fully stacked. To date, SpaceX has launched the rocket 12 times since 2023 from Starbase, its headquarters in South Texas that now doubles as a company town following a May 2025 vote in Cameron County.

SpaceX's most famous rocket, Falcon 9, named for 'Star Wars'

Because it's one of the most active rockets in the world, SpaceX's Falcon 9 may be one of the most recognizable spacecraft names amid those who even casually follow spaceflight news.

The two-stage 230-foot rocket is not only the exclusive launch provider for SpaceX's Starlink internet satellite deployments from Florida and California, but is often the vehicle of choice for civil and military missions. NASA relies on the Falcon 9 to help propel astronauts to the International Space Station, and the rocket also is contracted for a number of military satellite deployments.

But what inspired the name of the Falcon 9 – as well as its more powerful Falcon Heavy cousin?

It may not surprise you to learn that the spacecraft is named for one of the most iconic fictional spacecraft to ever grace a screen: the Millenium Falcon from the "Star Wars" franchise. The number 9 refers to the nine Merlin engines that power Falcon 9's first stage, according to NASA.

Starlink provides satellite internet to millions

Starlink is SpaceX's lucrative orbital satellite internet business. Since the first launch in 2019 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Starlink has grown into a constellation of more than 10,700 satellites in space.

After services first became available about five years ago, more than 7 million people in 150 countries now use the internet service, SpaceX said as recently as October.

The satellites operate in low-Earth orbit, where they circle Earth at a lower altitude nearer the atmosphere, offering higher connection speeds than satellites further out in space. That means the satellites are equipped to make internet service accessible in rural areas and other regions that have been traditionally harder to reach.

Florida drone ships named Shortfall of Gravitas, Just Read the Instructions

In Florida, two autonomous drone ships have for years operated from Port Canaveral off the coast of Cape Canaveral: Shortfall of Gravitas and Just Read the Instructions.

The vessels are an integral part of SpaceX's reusability philosophy, especially for missions that cannot carry enough fuel for a booster to return and land back at the launch site.

Stationed in the Atlantic Ocean during launches, the drone ships, built on modified barges, are where a Falcon 9's first stage booster often lands before it's transported back to a launch complex to be readied for another mission. The drone ships, outfitted with large landing platforms, are seemingly used interchangeably for missions from either the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, or the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station located further south.

So, where did SpaceX come up with such unconventional names? Turns out, both of the drone ships are named for spaceships in science fiction novels by Iain M. Banks.

Shortfall of Gravitas is named after a spacecraft titled "Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall" from the novel "Look to Windward," according to the website space-offshore.com, which is dedicated to information about seafaring ships in the aerospace industry.

In the case of Just Read the Instructions, the drone ship is named after a spacecraft of the same name from the novel "The Player of Games." Both of the spaceships for which the SpaceX drone ships are named are from Banks' Culture series.

Of Course I Still Love You is where boosters land in California

California is home to a SpaceX drone ship of its own used for Falcon 9 first-stage booster landings following Starlink missions.

Like its counterparts in the Sunshine State, Of Course I Still Love You is named for a Banks novel. Operated out of the Port of Long Beach, the drone ship is stationed in the Pacific Ocean during SpaceX Starlink missions getting off the ground from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

SpaceX Dragon capsule named for 'Puff the Magic Dragon'

The name of SpaceX's 27-foot-tall Dragon space capsule has an interesting origin of its own.

As Musk explained in 2018 on social media site X, then called Twitter, the capsule was originally called Puff the Magic Dragon "as people said I was high if I thought it could work." Puff the Magic Dragon is, of course, a reference to the 1963 song by Peter, Paul and Mary, as well as the 1978 animated television special it inspired.

"I named it after their insult," he continued.

Musk, though, appears to have gotten the last laugh.

Today, the Dragon capsule has journeyed on multiple missions to orbit and is the only U.S. vehicle capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

What is Mechazilla, Gigabay?

It's not just spacecraft and sea vessels that are branded with SpaceX's signature quirky monikers.

At Starbase, there's a contraption dubbed "mechazilla" – perhaps a reference to the fictional cyborg Mechagodzilla. The nickname refers to the company's colossal tower equipped with massive robotic arms – themselves nicknamed "chopsticks" – tasked with occasionally catching a returning Super Heavy booster used during a Starship test flight.

And closer to home in Florida, a new Starship facility SpaceX calls "Gigabay" on Kennedy Space Center grounds will be where Starship will one day be stacked and finalized for launches from the state.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Falcon 9, Starship and beyond: Inside SpaceX's love of cosmic names

Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida / Florida Today

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 10:59 AM.