What is the significance of Russian spacecraft names such as Sputnik, Vostok and Soyuz?
Russian names for their spacecraft are meaningful: Sputnik means “companion” or “fellow traveller”, ie a satellite of earth. Vostok (the single-seat type Yuri Gagarin rode for the first manned spaceflight) is usually simply translated as “East”, but I have also seen it referred to as something more like “rising in the east”. Voshkod (Vostok’s brief twin- and triple-seat successor) means “ascent” or “rising” (as of the sun or moon). Soyuz means “union”. The USSR was the Union, or Soyuz, of Soviet Socialist Republics. The name was picked not in homage but because the Soyuz flights’ first task was to pioneer docking (or union) of two manned spacecraft. Due to a fatal accident on the first attempt in 1967, the first docking of this sort did not take place until January 1969. Soyuz spacecraft are currently used as International Space Station rescue vehicles. Salyut, the series of space stations starting in 1971, means “salute”. Almaz, the 1970s military space station, means “diamond”. Mir,
