Orbiter Vehicle Designation

Each NASA space shuttle designation is composed of a prefix and suffix separated by a dash. The prefix for operational shuttles is OV, for Orbiter Vehicle.

Related Topics:
NASA - Space shuttle

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The suffix is composed of two parts: the series and the vehicle number.

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Series:

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0 - Non-flight ready shuttles

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1 - Flight Ready shuttles

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The vehicle number is the sequentially assigned within the series, beginning with 1. Therefore, there can never be a OV-100 as it would read "Orbiter Vehicle Series 1 Vehicle 0".

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Many proposals to build a second generation of orbiters, externally compatible with the current system but internally new, refer to them as "OV-200" or "OV-2xx" in order to differentiate them from the "current generation", the OV-100s. This terminology is informal, and it is unlikely that any Shuttle-derived vehicle built will be given such designation.

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