2023-07-03 17:20:01
“Owl”, “Earthling”, “Lunotop”, “Revenge”, “Fenech”… The competition for the best name for the Russian lunar spacesuit has reached the final. Together with NPP “Zvezda”, the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” selected the seven best, in our opinion, “names” for the overalls, which will have to protect astronauts on the surface of a natural satellite of the Earth.
I must say right away that the majority of our readers turned out to be true experts in Russian astronautics, namely, the fact that specialists from the very first space flights have a tradition of giving spacesuits the names of birds of prey. Recall that the first such spacesuit was the Berkut, in which Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov made the world’s first spacewalk in 1965.
After the Berkut, there were the Hawk (it was used during the docking of Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5) and Sokol-K (created on the basis of the aircraft Sokol). Currently, cosmonauts are flying on the Soyuz spacecraft in its modification Sokol KV-2, which turned out to be the most ergonomic.
The Sokol KV-2 had another brother called the Swift, created at the Zvezda Research and Production Enterprise specifically for ejecting astronauts from the cockpit of the Buran spacecraft – it was never used. The Krechet, created for the Soviet lunar program, which, unfortunately, was closed, also remained unclaimed. However, thanks to the developments on the Krechet, one of the most advanced spacesuits for spacewalks, the Orlan, appeared. Since 1978, six modifications have been created by specialists. The “extreme” modification, in which Russian cosmonauts are currently working outside the station, is Orlan-ISS.
However, the names for space suits were not always “bird-like”. For example, after the landing of the descent vehicle, Zvezda specialists gave the name “Trout” to the wetsuit for dressing astronauts.
Now, as we have already reported, NPP Zvezda has created a prototype of a spacesuit for a new lunar program, it is planned to be implemented after 2030. In mid-June, he was tested at the Cosmonaut Training Center. Yu.A. Gagarin on a platform that simulates different levels of gravity.
The new lunar equipment borrowed the principle of entering it, as if through the back door, from Orlan. However, the lunar suit does not look like Orlan. The part that protects the chest and back (cuirass) is made shorter – for greater mobility of the lower back, because on the Moon an astronaut will need to do both bends and squats. The “arms” and “legs”, that is, the sleeves and legs of the lunar space suit, became more mobile. Lunar “lower limbs” are equipped with hinges for bending the knees and ankles when walking on the lunar surface.
In order to give the new brainchild of Zvezda the “correct” name, we announced a competition among readers two weeks ago with its creators. It was attended by 66 people who proposed 90 (!) Names. The top three in terms of the number of people who proposed them included “Lun” (the name of this bird was proposed by 13 people), “Owl” (5 people) and “Luntik” (5 people). Three “Crows”, two “Kites”, two “Peregrine Falcons”, “Saker Falcon”, “Buzzard”, “Petrel”, “Snipe”, not at all predatory “Swan” and even the penguin “Adeli” were also sent … mythical birds: “Gamayun”, “Alkonost”, “Simurg”, “Sirin”.
Some of our readers presented the lunar space suit in the form of “Matryoshka”, “Tramp”, “ROB”, “Atlanta”, “Earthling”, “Pioneer”, “Comet”, “Venus”, “Flash” and “Dobrynya”. And the Luntik company was made up of Lufandr, Lunaskaf and Lunatop.
“Why not give the moon suit the name of one of the species of fox?” asked one of the participants. And he suggested the name “Fenech”. I even attached a drawing generated by artificial intelligence. “I justify this idea by the fact that foxes hunt in a peculiar way by jumping for prey high and naturally, like astronauts on the surface of the moon, due to weakened gravity,” the reader explained his unusual choice.
By the way, there were also “Wolf” with “Dolphin”.
The most unexpected were “Tolez” (Moon in Udmurt), “X” (“individual space suit” or “glory to space explorers”), “South” (Yuri Gagarin) and simply “Yuri”, sent by grandmother Galina and granddaughter Veronika from Snezhinsk. Two readers sent toponyms: “Moscow”, “Vladimir”, “Podolsk”. In our opinion, the options turned out to be completely inexplicable: “Collapse”, “West” and “Icarus” …
The guys from the “simple rural school” No. 2 of the Vikulovsky district of the Tyumen region were surprised, who together came up with the name “Revenge” for the spacesuit. And he suggested the name Denis Trinkunas. That’s who, it turns out, sees to the very root!
And now the list of final names selected by the editors of “MK” and employees of NPP “Zvezda”: “Atlant”, “Lunny”, “Kite”, “Petrel”, “Albatross”, “Owl”, “Dobrynya”. The best of them will be chosen by the creators of the suit in a few days. However, while experts decide which name is more suitable for their spacesuit, everyone will be able to participate in the popular vote. Its result, theoretically, may coincide with the result of the voting of specialists, but not necessarily. In any case, one of the participants, whose name will be recognized as the best, will be awarded a prize – a figurine of an astronaut, made in the Gzhel style.
Participate in the voting on the MK website and in our Telegram channel:
#creators #lunar #spacesuit #selected #finalists #competition