Wikipedia:Naming conventions (rockets)

The purpouse of this naming convention is to standardise naming for ICBMs and space launch vehicles. It also covers other forms of ballistic misslies, such as IRBMs, and sounding rockets.

The current system

Currently, there are many different ways of naming rockets:

1. Name only - eg Titan III
2. Designation number and name - eg. PGM-17 Thor
3. Designation number only - eg. R-36
4. Appending the word rocket in parenthesis - eg. Redstone (rocket)
5. Appending the word rocket without parenthesis - eg. Delta rocket
6. Appending the word missile in parenthesis - eg. Atlas (missile)
7. Appending the word missile without parenthesis - eg. Blue Streak missile
8. Appending the term launch vehicle - eg. Soyuz launch vehicle (this is incorrect, see below)
9. Appending the term rocket family in parenthesis - eg. Titan (rocket family)
10. Appending the word launcher in parenthesis - eg. Vega (launcher)
11. Appending the term launch vehicle family in parenthesis - eg Delta II/III Launch Vehicle Family
12. Appending the term sounding rocket - eg Zenit sounding rocket
13. Appending the term Rocket of country - eg Orion (Rocket of Argentina)

Elimination of unsuitable candidates

The term "Launch vehicle" is not used by all countries, in many, including Russia, the term "Carrier rocket" is used instead. Thus, there are articles - Soyuz launch vehicle and Dnipro launch vehicle, which are incorrectly named, and more would become incorrect should one of these methods be implemented. It is inappropriate for sounding rockets, as it implies that they launch satellites. This is also inappropriate for ICBMs and IRBMs as it implies that they are used to launch payloads other than warheads.

Missile implies that it is only used for the purpouse of launching warheads, so would be inappropriate for space launch vehicles. It also implies that it is military, so it is inappropriote for civilian rockets.

Many (particuarlly civilian) rockets do not have a designation number.

Launcher is not a commonly used term, compared to rocket or Launch Vehicle/Carrier Rocket It is also used by only one article.

Sounding Rocket does not apply to anything except sounding rockets.

Rocket of country is only used by one article.

Name only is probably the most desirable option, but in some circumstances, it is not possible due to other uses of the name.

So the following options remain:

1. Name only - eg Titan III
2. Designation number and name - eg. PGM-17 Thor
3. Designation number only - eg. R-36
4. Appending the word rocket in parenthesis - eg. Redstone (rocket)
5. Appending the word rocket without parenthesis - eg. Delta rocket
6. Appending the word missile in parenthesis - eg. Atlas (missile)
7. Appending the word missile without parenthesis - eg. Blue Streak missile
8. Appending the term launch vehicle - eg. Soyuz launch vehicle (this is incorrect, see below)
9. Appending the term rocket family in parenthesis - eg. Titan (rocket family)
10. Appending the word launcher in parenthesis - eg. Vega (launcher)
11. Appending the term launch vehicle family in parenthesis - eg Delta II/III Launch Vehicle Family
12. Appending the term sounding rocket - eg Zenit sounding rocket
13. Appending the term Rocket of country - eg Orion (Rocket of Argentina)

Recommendation

Currently the most commonly used format would appear to be name only. The most common format that would be possible to uniformly implement appeaes to be (rocket).

Therefore, the recommended naming convention would be to use the name, followed by the term rocket in parentheses. This could be used in conjunction with the name only format where appropriate, for example a page could be located at Titan III, but with a redirect at Titan III (rocket) rather than the other way around.