The ship that will take Sergeant Charlotte to the red planet contains references to the many achievements of space exploration over time and also to the courage and bravery of the women who have made history.

The name of the ship is a tribute to Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Baumfree, an abolitionist and activist who campaigned for the civil rights of African-Americans. The ship’s number is 1826 and refers to the year that Sojourner escaped slavery. Not coincidentally, the first rover to land on Mars in 1997 was also named Sojourner in honor of her and her achievements.

Further references can be found within the spacecraft's schematic design, with callbacks to real space vehicles that have been crucial throughout history in humanity's conquest of space. Its silhouette uses parts of historic vehicles such as the Russian Vostok rocket, the space shuttle's solid fuel boosters, the American Saturn V rocket, the Apollo spacecraft as seen in the moon landings, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the Eagle lunar module and the cockpit of the Columbia space shuttle. There is also a reference to the gravity simulation section of Discovery One, the fictional ship from the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.