Idaho Spudnik Satellite Mission Patch Bottle Opener

A humourous depiction of a potato as a satellite dubbed "Spudnik-1," with forks serving as antenna, in orbit around the earth. Features the Spudnik-1 mission patch. I have met people who do not believe Idaho is a real place. Others know it it is somewhere in flyover territory, but can not place it any better - "Isn't that somewhere near Nebraska?" Mostly, people just think it is a backward place. Not true! Idaho has a space program and placed a satellite in orbit. The scientists and engineers at the Idaho Space Authority dubbed it the Idaho Geosynchronous Agriculture and Forest Fire Observation Tuber, or IGAFFOT for short. IGAFFOT does not exactly roll off the tongue so the governor sponsored a satellite naming contest among the state's elementary school students. There were a number of suggestion including Tater Tot, but almost 99 percent of the students suggested Spudnik; and so it was. During a television interview the director of the Idaho Space Authority explained that potatoes make wonderful observation platforms as they can be mass-produced locally and generally have several eyes. In addition, when the orbit decays the tuber is re-entry baked by friction with the atmosphere. All you need if you find one of these satellites after it comes down is butter, salt and pepper; with maybe a bit of sour cream. Since its first appearance in 1947, the AN-2 has been produced in great numbers; over 5,000 were built in the USSR. Since 1960, most AN-2’s have been built at in Poland, with over 12,000 made before full production ended in 1992. Limited production from part stocks continues. The AN-2 is also built under license in China as the Shijiazhuang Y-5. North Korea operates man AN-2s for use by special forces units. Save for the Lockheed C-130, the AN-2 has been in, more or less, continuous production for longer than any other aircraft. The AN-2 was designed as a utility aircraft for use in government-owned forestry and agriculture. However, the basic airframe is highly adaptable and numerous variants have been developed. These include hopper-equipped versions for crop-dusting, scientific versions for atmospheric sampling, water-bombers for fighting forest-fires, flying ambulances, float-equipped seaplane versions, lightly armed combat versions for dropping paratroopers, and of course the most common AN-2T version, which is the 12-seater passenger aircraft. The AN-2 has no stall speed quoted in the operating handbooks (the stall speed being the speed at which the aircraft is travelling too slowly for the airflow over the wings to keep it aloft). Pilots of the AN-2 say the aircraft can be flown in full control at 30 mph (as a contrast, a modern Cessna 4-seater light aircraft has a stall speed of around 55 mph). This slow stall speed makes it possible for the aircraft to fly backwards (if the aircraft is pointed into a headwind of, say, 35 mph, it will travel backwards at 5 mph whilst under full control). This is a rare ability, even for Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) aircraft. Only the German Fieseler Fi-156 “Stork” of World War II has better slow-speed ability. An interesting note from the pilot’s handbook reads: “If the engine quits in instrument conditions (blind flying when you can’t see the ground) or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft (it won’t stall) and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 40 mph (64 km/h), and when the aeroplane slows to a forward speed of about 25 mph [40 km/h], the aeroplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground.”