Sputnik is a fun word in Russian. It comes from the prefix s- (with), the suffix -nik (one who), and the root -put- (path). A sputnik, then, is someone or something who travels a path with you, and it is also a model of train (because it travels with the tracks) and a word for spouse (because they travel your life’s path with you).
First Satellites
Submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/a71fe18d-d8a6-432e-af9e-96673128fe70.png
Comments
CombatWombat@feddit.online 2 months ago
lime@feddit.nu 2 months ago
so, “pathfinder”?
CombatWombat@feddit.online 2 months ago
I might translate it that way in some contexts, but if you told me Lewis and Clark were “sputniks” I’d assume you meant they got married in secret, rather than that they were explorers.
GargleBlaster@feddit.org 2 months ago
In (some parts of Germany) a Sputnik is a sausage with a slice of cheese in it, wrapped in bacon, pierced by a toothpick and baked in the oven.
Was looking for a picture of one and found none. So now I’m contemplating if I’m going insane.
CombatWombat@feddit.online 2 months ago
The Russians call Germans “nemtsy” or “the mute ones” because allegedly the Germans were the first ethnic group the Russians encountered who didn’t speak their language and so they assumed they couldn’t speak at all. The sausage sounds delicious, though, so maybe they just weren’t speaking because they were eating cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped sausages.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Is it a specific sausage or any sausage because no reason I’m not hungry
xzinik@feddit.cl 2 months ago
i find that incredibly fascinating and also so emotional like pure poetry in just one word, neat
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Fascinating, so it means 🇨🇿 spolucestovatel/spolupoutník or 🇩🇪 Mitreisender
balsoft@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I’m pretty sure the model of train is a proper name and it’s named after the satellite. I don’t think I would describe any train as a literal “sputnik” of the rails.
Also Russian is full of composite words like that. “Explorer” in russian would be “исследователь” (issledovatel’) - ис (completely) + след (trace/footstep) + оват (make, imbue) + ель (he who). Literally it would be “he who makes (places) completely (covered in) footsteps”
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Canada was the 4th country with a satellite, and the 3rd country to fully construct its own satellite. It called that satellite Alouette 1, followed by Alouette 2, then ISIS 1 and 2 (International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies, not the other one).
The list of launches is pretty funny.
- Sputnik 1 (success); USSR
- Sputnik 2 (success); USSR
Then an absolutely frantic series of US attempts
- Vanguard 1A (failure); USA
- Explorer 1 (success); USA
- Vanguard 1B (failure); USA
- Explorer 2 (failure); USA
- Vanguard 1C (success); USA
- Explorer 3 (success); USA
- Vanguard 2A (failure); USA
Then another Sputnik
- Sputnik 3 (success); USSR
Then more frantic attempts by the USA
- Vanguard 2B (failure); USA
- Vanguard 2C (failure); USA
- Explorer 4 (success); USA
- Pioneer 0 (failure); USA
- Pioneer 5 (failure); USA
- Vanguard 2D (failure); USA
- Pioneer 1 (partial success); USA
- Beacon 1 (failure); USA
- Pioneer 2 (failure); USA
Then 1959 started with Luna 1, a partially successful launch from the USSR.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Mild confusing, Pioneer 5 launched before Pioneer 1? Whose bright idea was that?
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Oops, I messed up. That should have been Explorer 5.
sukhmel@programming.dev 2 months ago
I read in another place that Japan was the fourth to launch a satellite in February of 1970, it looks like that other article means ‘launched using their own rocktet’, and Canada launched 8 years earlier than Japan using NASA rocket
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Everybody wants to make their own achievement sound better.
- The UK was the third country with a satellite, but didn’t fully build their own satellite.
- Canada was the fourth, but third to fully build their own satellite, but they didn’t use their own rocket.
- Italy was the fifth and also launched a satellite they built, but used an American rocket.
- France was the sixth country with a satellite, but the first to launch outside the US or USSR using their own rocket.
- Australia was the seventh country with a satellite, but the third to launch a satellite in its own territory; France launched from Algeria in 1965 which had been independent since 1962. But, Australia used an American rocket, not its own design.
- West Germany was the eighth country with a satellite, but it was launched from a US rocket on a US base.
- Japan was the ninth country with a satellite, but it used its own rocket from its own territory. So, 9th with a satellite, 5th to launch outside the US and USSR, 4th to launch from its own territory, and 4th to launch with its own rocket.
wpb@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Not to get too “um actually” on this but Sputnik 1 predates Explorer 1
treesapx@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Does any part of this suggest otherwise?
wpb@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yes.
aketawi@quokk.au 2 months ago
china really went 60% of the way to naming their satellite Touhou Koumakyou
Jankatarch@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The second first Touhou game.
VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
AN INDOMITABLE GAULISH NAME FOR AN INDOMITABLE GAULISH SATELLITE!
funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Ils sont fous, ces Française.
ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Ils? Peut-être “nous”?
funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Je suis anglais. But also I was trying to keep the catchphrase intact.
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Was that live action movie any good or just an acid trip?
RustySharp@programming.dev 2 months ago
Yes.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The new animated series on Netflix is great, very much in the spirit of the original comics. I didn’t like the live action thing at all and couldn’t get very far into it.
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Named ours after a bird and funny kid’s song.
P1k1e@lemmy.world 2 months ago
“The East is Red” is a pretty fire name ngl
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
“Asterix” being some spin on the latin word for “star”, aster.
Denjin@feddit.uk 2 months ago
Asterix the Gaul
You claiming that I’m not a star? tok tok tok
T00l_shed@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Oublie-ix that line of thought!
samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Due to the fact that his name is a pun of asterisk. *