BBC calls Nasa’s Artemis moon rocket ‘uncrewed’ not ‘unmanned’ to avoid causing offence

The Artemis I rocket was referred to as ‘uncrewed’ by BBC coverage because its style guide states that journalists should avoid gendered language.

During a news roundup on the Today programme, Alan Smith described an ‘uncrewed’ flight scheduled as part of NASA’s moon mission.

The newsreader was not told by producers to use the gender-neutral terminology, the BBC has said, but reporters are advised not to use words like ‘unmanned’.

For the words ‘manned/manning/manpower’, the BBC’s style guide says: ‘In a mixed workforce, it’s more accurate to use staffed, staffing, staffing level etc. By the same token, avoid “man in the street”.’ 

The corporation’s style guide also asserts that ‘mankind’ is ‘open to objections of sexism’ and that it is ‘safer to write the human race, people etc’, The Telegraph reported.

The latest version, updated in 2020 and 2021, also tells staff not to use the acronym LGBT because the ‘issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people can be very different and the more specific we can be with our language, the better.’

It comes after it was revealed that BBC staff were told there are more than 150 genders.

They were also urged to develop their ‘trans brand’ by declaring their pronouns on email signoffs.

Emails were sent to radio producers and programme editors urging them to attend training seminars by Global Butterflies, a transgender lobby group behind the disputed ‘Genderbread person’ graphic, that the BBC organised last summer and autumn.

The BBC quit the controversial diversity scheme run by LGBT charity Stonewall last November – but whistleblowers believe that ‘Stonewall injected the ideology into the BBC and it’s still circulating’.

According to material leaked to the Telegraph, staff were shown a string of gender-neutral pronouns they should use including ‘xe, xem, xyrs’.

The launch of the most powerful rocket the world has ever seen for a mission to the moon is set to reconvene on Saturday at 2.17pm eastern time, with a two-hour window, NASA told reporters on Tuesday.

General view of the Broadcasting House, BBC headquarters, in central London 

The historic launch was postponed after a bleed in engine three could not be fixed in time for the scheduled flight. 

According to the agency, a liquid hydrogen fuel line did not properly chill one of the Space Launch System’s (SLS) four core-stage engines, which are part of the preparations needed before the engine can ignite.

However, NASA said there is no need to swap the engine. Officials clarified Tuesday there is nothing physically different about the engine that would have prevented proper cooling, but rather they suspect a sensor malfunctioned. 

Replacing the sensor before the Saturday launch attempt is not feasible, NASA officials said. 

Instead, the team behind the latest mission to the moon will begin its ‘hydrogen bleed’ – the process where hydrogen is circulated to cool the engines in preparation for flight – will begin about 30 to 45 minutes earlier than the previous attempt. 

Officials emphasized that they will ‘continue to pour over the data’ from the first launch attempt in anticipation of similar results from the sensor.

Another potential obstacle for a Saturday launch is the weather.