Enterprise is asteroid #9777 and also known as 1994 OB. Enterprise was discovered by Shimizu Yoshisada (清水 義定) and Urata Takeshi (浦田 武) at the Nachi-Katsuura Observatory. Enterprise’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.40 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.23, a period of revolution of 1 359 days, and an inclination of 3.3 degrees.

Discovery is asteroid #9770 and also known as 1993 EE. Discovery was discovered by Urata Takeshi (浦田 武) at the Oohira Station of the Nihondaira Observatory. Discovery’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.28 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.15, a period of revolution of 1 260 days, and an inclination of 4.0 degrees.

Enterprise and Discovery are named after the Space Shuttles of the NASA. Although only this is the legit way to name asteroids, both naming citations mention fictional spaceships too. Discovery is the name of the spaceship in Arthur Clarke’s novel and Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. So this is an official namesake of the asteroid Discovery too. The other official namesake of the asteroid Enterprise indeed is the famous spaceship Enterprise from Star Trek. The asteroid numbers seem unfit for Trekkies because we would have expected #1701, but this number is so much lower that it wasn’t available anymore. It is the asteroid number of a place name asteroid named after the river Okavango in the south of Africa.

Enterprise belongs very clearly to the Star Trek theme. No other asteroid admits this so clearly, while asteroids can’t be named after Star Trek characters when obeying the rules. Enterprise links the asteroids of the Star Trek theme with each other. Discovery links asteroids of another Science Fiction theme. Such Science Fiction themes can be seen as modern mythologies, supplementing the ancient and medieval mythologies. The spacecrafts Enterprise and Discovery got their names certainly also because of the literal meanings of their names! So Enterprise should also represent entrepreneurs and their enterprises, while Discovery should also represent (new and) real discoveries.