What to Get Space Station on 10th Anniversary -- a Name

Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini, in an interview last year, told ABC News he was well aware of the space station's identity crisis.

"It is unfortunate, as a world community, so many folks are not aware of the space station, but I am convinced that when we build the space station up and we are flying the six-person crew in orbit like we said we are going to do, it will be a more talked about system as we build it out."

The space telescopes all have names. Hubble is the most famous orbiting observatory and has a devoted following of people who proudly call themselves Hubble Huggers.

Think of the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity and images come to mind of spunky little robots succeeding against the odds. The Mars Phoenix Lander chirped to a large following until the day it died.

Would an orbiting outpost with a name be more popular? Dr. Neal Lane of the Baker Institute believes the space station will never enjoy the popularity of a Hubble telescope, but it is a vital test platform to learn how to live in space.

"If we are going to learn how to go to Mars we have to learn about how we as humans react to living on orbit for a long time," he said.

Lane says a space station, named or not, is still a worthy endeavor.

"Putting that together on orbit is just incredible, people have forgotten this is still a very risky business, and what is being assembled up there has never been done before," Lane said.

So what would be a good name for the space station? Good question -- and one NASA has been struggling with for years, and perhaps it will reveal its choice this week.