Comrade Citizen Mike:  Now the space shuttles are really atmospheric machines hoised into space on a rocket so the terms the shuttle crew use to describe parts of their aircraft do not apply, or will not, to deep-space vehicles.  I note here they are the "nose" and "tail" sections in atmospheric machines, not "front" and "back."  In naval parlance the rear part of an aircraft is referred to as the "aft" section too.  "Bow" and "stern" apply to seagoing vessels, of course.  Since nobody now spends months or years aboard a spacecraft that does anything except circle the earth, it's perfectly reasonable to expect that when we do go into on long voyages in space the old maritime terms will be used, so it'll be aft, bow, port, starboard, ladder, companionway, deck and so on.  You'll note there is no "air force" in the Starfist universe.  Anyway, the convention in SF is to use the nautical terms and we observe that.