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SS Tsiolkovsky NCC-53911 dedication plaque

"K.E Tsiolkovskiy": Cyrillic writing on the SS Tsiolkovsky

Russian was a language spoken on the planet Earth, originating in the country of Russia, and which was also the dominant language of the USSR. The alphabet it was written in was called "Cyrillic". A notable speaker of this language was Pavel Chekov.

Mission patches for early Earth space missions might sometimes mention the names of Russian astronauts in Cyrillic. Astronauts getting such a treatment included Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Krikalev, and Valeri Tokarev.

In 2257, when a communication attempt from a Sphere lifeform resulted in the universal translator malfunctioning and translating the USS Discovery crew's speech into various languages, Commander Saru used his knowledge of Federation languages to assist the crew in repairs. While repairing the communications systems, Michael Burnham's speech was translated into Russian: "Ya izolirovala sistemu svyazi. Gotov k povtornoy initsializatsii? (Я изолировала систему связи. Готов к повторной инициализации?)" ("I've isolated the communications system. Ready to reinitialize?") Saru, understanding Russian, replied: "Vhozhu v tsikl initsializatsii. Davay. (вхожу в цикл инициализации. Давай.)" ("Entering the reinitialization sequence. Now.") (DIS: "An Obol for Charon")

''In the alternate reality in 2259, footage with Cyrillic writing below it was in a collection of graphics and video media that were seen on a powerwall in the offices of Christopher Pike and Alexander Marcus at Starfleet Headquarters. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

The writing can be seen in the video "Star Trek: Into Darkness – User Interface VFX" at vimeo.com. [1]

When the USS Enterprise encountered a Melkotian buoy in 2268, it spoke to the crew in their native languages, which included Russian, as heard by Pavel Chekov. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun")

Upon discovering that life signs had been detected in Spock's sealed quarters in 2285, Chekov exclaimed "Ya ne sumasshedshi! (Я не сумасшедший!)" ("I'm not crazy!") (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

According to Walter Koenig, "I went into Star Trek III very unhappy for many reasons, and I was pretty well resolved to be miserable for the entire shooting of the film. But two hours into shooting, Leonard Nimoy came up to me and said, 'Walter, I'm going to give Chekov a line in Russian'–which wasn't in the script. To me, it was a gesture of good will that told me he was aware that I wasn't happy. It didn't make any difference in the length of my part, but I was touched by that and all my dissatisfaction melted away and I couldn't maintain my mad." Koenig added, "We went back and forth about whether we should have a subtitle for Chekov's line in Russian and then we decided against it." He later joked that not subtitling it would save Koenig something to explain during his discussions with convention goers. (Starlog #91, February 1985, p. 40)

When commissioned in 2363, the SS Tsiolkovsky's name was written in Cyrillic on her dedication plaque. (TNG: "The Naked Now")

In the Julian Bashir, Secret Agent holoprogram, after waking up in Hippocrates Noah's secret lair, Anastasia Komananov says "Shto chort sluchilos'? (Что, чëрт, случилось?)" (or "What the hell happened?"). She also answered a question with "Da" instead of yes earlier. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")

Russian-named starships[]

External links[]

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