neutrino_cannon
30th July 2008, 04:02 PM
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1137/1
Very interesting read about the various rituals performed by cosmonauts and astronauts to ensure good luck.
First, Soyuz flight crews observe a number of ceremonies before they leave the Star City training complex outside Moscow. They leave red carnations at the Memorial Wall, which commemorates Yuri Gagarin (who died in a training accident) and the four cosmonauts who have died in the course of space missions (Komarov in Soyuz 1; Dobrovolski, Patsayev, and Volkov in Soyuz 11). Then they visit Yuri Gagarin’s office at Zvyozdniy Gorodok, which is preserved as a shrine, untouched since his death, and sign his guest book. It is said that they also ask Gagarin’s ghost for permission to fly during this visit. This ghost will be with them too at other points during the mission’s preparations.
On arrival at the launch center in Baikonur, the crew are lodged in the Cosmonaut Hotel, a place which is so saturated in folklore and tradition that if the Russian space program ever relocates manned operations to another center, this building will almost certainly go with them. An avenue of trees stretches behind it, each planted by a safely returning cosmonaut, and the crew take care to walk among them and soak up the spirit of success that they exude.
Very interesting read about the various rituals performed by cosmonauts and astronauts to ensure good luck.
First, Soyuz flight crews observe a number of ceremonies before they leave the Star City training complex outside Moscow. They leave red carnations at the Memorial Wall, which commemorates Yuri Gagarin (who died in a training accident) and the four cosmonauts who have died in the course of space missions (Komarov in Soyuz 1; Dobrovolski, Patsayev, and Volkov in Soyuz 11). Then they visit Yuri Gagarin’s office at Zvyozdniy Gorodok, which is preserved as a shrine, untouched since his death, and sign his guest book. It is said that they also ask Gagarin’s ghost for permission to fly during this visit. This ghost will be with them too at other points during the mission’s preparations.
On arrival at the launch center in Baikonur, the crew are lodged in the Cosmonaut Hotel, a place which is so saturated in folklore and tradition that if the Russian space program ever relocates manned operations to another center, this building will almost certainly go with them. An avenue of trees stretches behind it, each planted by a safely returning cosmonaut, and the crew take care to walk among them and soak up the spirit of success that they exude.