I'm very excited for this mission and for ESA's JUICE which is en route. I hope I'm around to see them get there and succeed. Spacecraft test is nerve-racking and even moreso when a launch window is on the line. So much has to go right throughout all phases of the program.
In older texts the term gantlet was always used. It was a form of torture, punishment, or defacto execution. You get a group of people lined up on two sides, and have one guy run through it while those on his sides attack him - often with weapons. In many cases the person 'running the gantlet' would not survive.
No idea when gauntlet became practically synonymous, but I expect it's one of those linguistic evolutions along the line of "I could care less." Gauntlets were gloves! So, I like their usage!
TIL... also, according to https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=gantlet, "A section of double railroad tracks formed by the temporary convergence of two otherwise parallel tracks in such a way that each set remains independent while traversing the same ground, affording passage at a narrow place without need of switching." - so a kind of gantlet which trains must run through (and if another train comes from the other direction, they probably also won't survive).
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 19.1 ms ] threadNo idea when gauntlet became practically synonymous, but I expect it's one of those linguistic evolutions along the line of "I could care less." Gauntlets were gloves! So, I like their usage!