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Named ours after a bird and funny kid’s song.
AN INDOMITABLE GAULISH NAME FOR AN INDOMITABLE GAULISH SATELLITE!
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.
Ils sont fous, ces Française.
Ils? Peut-être “nous”?
Je suis anglais. But also I was trying to keep the catchphrase intact.
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).
i find that incredibly fascinating and also so emotional like pure poetry in just one word, neat
Fascinating, so it means 🇨🇿 spoluputovník or 🇩🇪 Mitwanderer
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.
Those parts might be centred around your family kitchen, much like the northern lights
May I see it?
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.
To expand a bit, it comes from a Proto-Slavic word which was used for foreigners in general, but mostly to refer to Germans. It’s also why most (all?) Slavic languages have basically the same word for German(s)/Germany, similar-sounding to the modern Russian one.
so, “pathfinder”?
More like companion.
If the “pa” part of “companion” comes from path it’s basically exactly the same: “s” and “co” are both “with” and “nik” and “ion” are similar noun endings.
More like baby mama
More like YO mama!
Ohh got em
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.
It’s strange they called it a ‘companion’ of any sort since it was the sole first satellite in space
As in, a companion to the planet.
Moons are satellites.
Satellite: from Latin satellitem (nominative satelles) “an attendant” upon a distinguished person; “a body-guard, a courtier; an assistant”
“Asterix” being some spin on the latin word for “star”, aster.
Well, there’s certainly a double entendre in chosing it as the name of a satellite, but it definitely comes from the name of tgat comic book character. Which itself is a play on asterisque (this symbol: *), which, of course, comes in turn from aster as you said.
His compagnon Obélix has a name which works on two levels: It can be seen as a play on obelisk (he is himself a sculptor of menhirs, which are vaguely similar to obelisks), but “obèle” is also the French word for the dagger symbol (†), which is an alternative to the asterisk.
You claiming that I’m not a star? tok tok tok
Oublie-ix that line of thought!
Which was taken from Greek.
The “star” comes from the fact that his name is a pun on asterisk. *
Was that live action movie any good or just an acid trip?
Yes.
