Now I think "Lowell" and "Percy" would be splendid names and exactly what one would expect from such an august personage as "Socrates". A person of intellect and education SHOULD name a Mars mission in honor of another planetary pioneer.

There are those of us without such a pedigree, however. Without the advantages of big words and high-flown concepts. We are the people who make a living picking up the cans Joe Sixpack throws away. For us "Ms Lander" was a philosopher, a guide, a leader who inspired those of us with boots or shoes to reach down and pull ourselves up to the heavens by the laces or straps. And for the rest of us, she urged us on in the most gentle way to get shoes before winter.

We can't buy the clothes "Cassini" designs. And yet a very expensive mission was named after him.

Lowell already has an entire observatory named after him. We, on the other hand, can't even sleep on the grounds of that observatory. Not for more than a week, anyway.

Nope, I'm sticking by naming the celestial M S Lander after an Earthly MS. Lander. Ann. For the uncommon people, who rank just below the common.

We of the bottom-feeding intellectual persuasion need love and recognition too.

Arf