NL

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Laufey

Laufey or Nál is a figure from Norse mythology, the mother of Loki and consort of Fárbauti. Eddic poetry refers to Loki by the matronym Loki Laufeyjarson (Old Norse 'Loki Laufey's son') rather than with a patronymic.

Attestations

Laufey is mentioned several times in the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. The first mention occurs in Gylfaginning, where High introduces Loki. High says that Loki is the son of Fárbauti, that "Laufey or Nál" is his mother, and that his brothers are Býleistr and Helblindi. Elsewhere in Gylfaginning, Loki is referred with employment of the matronymic Laufeyjarson (Old Norse 'Laufey's son'). This occurs twice more in Gylfaginning and once in Skádskaparmál. In addition, poetic means of referring to Loki are provided in the Prose Edda book Skaldskaparmal, including 'son of Fárbauti' or 'son of Laufey'.

Nál is mentioned twice in the Prose Edda, both times appearing in the phrase "Laufey or Nál"; once in Gylfaginning and once in Skáldskaparmál.

Soviet manned lunar programs

The Soviet manned lunar programs were a series of unsuccessful programs pursued by the Soviet Union to land a man on the Moon, in competition with the United States Apollo program to achieve the same goal set publicly by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961. The Soviet government publicly denied participating in such a competition, but secretly pursued two programs in the 1960s: manned lunar flyby missions using Soyuz 7K-L1 (Zond) spacecraft launched with the Proton-K rocket, and a manned lunar landing using Soyuz 7K-LOK and LK Lander spacecraft launched with the N1 rocket. Following the dual American successes of the first manned lunar orbit on December 24–25, 1968 (Apollo 8) and the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969 (Apollo 11), and a series of catastrophic N1 failures, both Soviet programs were eventually brought to an end. The Proton-based Zond program was canceled in 1970, and the N1 / L3 program was terminated de facto in 1974 and officially canceled in 1976. Details of both Soviet programs were kept secret until 1990, when the government allowed them to be published under the policy of glasnost.