I’ve decided to not like the term “crewed” when referring to a spaceship that has human beings in it. Granted, the term is now used as a replacement for the word “manned” because spaceships nowadays have women in them too, either as crew or passengers. In the beginning of the US “Man in Space” program, that of Mercury and Gemini and Apollo, the term was used not because human males were the only members of the crew, but largely because in the English language, we tend to put a masculine tilt to any concept that could include both members of the male and female sex. To be clear, I’m not objecting to the change because I would prefer to see a return to that masculine slant, far from it, but because of the word’s homophonic relationship to the word “crude.” Bad term.
The word “crewed” has come up most recently when referring to the impending launch of the Artemis 2 spacecraft that is supposed to circle Earth’s moon and return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean. (Just off San Diego, they tell me.) Shades of Apollo. This spacecraft will have three males and one female. Not “manned” at all. This newest launch of a spacecraft with humans in it foreshadows the eventual return to a landing on the moon of more humans (probably both sexes) within a few years and possibly a moon base and who-knows-what. (2028 is a year I hear used.) Great stuff this “human-being associated space flight.”
But Artemis is far from “crude,” the image that comes immediately to mind when I hear the word “crewed.” It just doesn’t work for me. Compared to Apollo, Artemis is a far more sophisticated spaceship, undeserving of the term “crude,” in whatever form. We need a better term. Terms such as “human-involved spacecraft,” or “manned and womanned spacecraft,” or “spacecraft with both sexes in it,” are completely out of the question for obvious reasons, but “crewed” isn’t much better, other than being a short, simple term that is technically correct, but sonorously lousy. The problem is that the English language doesn’t have a gender-neutral term we can use. I looked “crew” up in a thesaurus, but no good substitute popped out. A “crew” is defined as a group of people who work together toward a common goal. “Team” is a good possibility, but a “teamed” spacecraft doesn’t quite cut it. A “piloted” spacecraft could work, but it implies a member of the crew actually guides the ship like the pilot of an airplane, and in reality, guidance of spacecraft is done almost exclusively by computer. That was done even in Apollo. Not too accurate.
So,what will it be? “Crewed” and its derogatory second-cousin, or will we come up with a better alternative? Got any suggestions?