[FPSPACE] Buran.Ru news - Polyus vs Mir-2

[Chris Jones]

"Bart Hendrickx" <bhen@tijd.com> writes:

[...]

  An interesting side-note : according to the memoirs of Boris Gubanov the
  name "Energiya" for the rocket was suggested by Glushko to Gorbachov when
  the latter visited Baikonur in the days before the maiden launch in May
  1987. Glushko thought it was appropriate because "energy" was one of the
  mottos of Gorbachov's policy of perestroika. At the same time he did of
  course point out to Gorbachov that it happened to be the name of his company
  as well. Until that time the name Buran had been used for *both* the orbiter
  and the rocket, which had caused quite some confusion among the people
  involved in the programme since its inception in 1976.

Of course, using the same name for the launcher and its payload was common
(Sputnik, Vostok, Soyuz, Molniya, Kosmos (twice!), and Proton).  For real
confusion, there's also using the same name for a payload and an unrelated
launcher (Zenit).

Coincidently, I recall Jim Oberg saying that when he first heard of the N-1,
he thought he had heard Energy, as the Russian (en-odin) sounds like en-ahdjin
and it had been hurriedly whispered to him.