posted September 18, 2005 03:39 PM            

For example: designing the crew patch; launch day cake; post-landing walk-around (just writing those has triggered a flood of others...). Many of these traditions seem to have originated as, or evolved into, photo opportunities.

Has anyone succeeded where I have failed, and listed all known astronaut (and cosmonaut) traditions? I would greatly appreciate a pointer to any such listing.

posted September 18, 2005 07:46 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by John Charles:
The recent book about Soviet/Russian space suits by Abramov claims that Gagarin never "christened" his bus in this way, and that it was all an invention of the press.

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quote:

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Cosmonauts also visit a replica of Yuri Gagarin's office at Star City near Mosccow, maintained just the way it was the day he died, to pledge to do a good job on their upcoming mission.

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Other cosmonaut traditions before launch:

• Visiting the graves in the Kremlin wall of Gagarin, Komarov, Volkov, Patsayev, Dobrovolski and I believe Korolyov.
• Touring the forest behind their living quarters at Baikonur; each tree represents an individual who has launched from the base.
• Signing the door to their room in the living quarters.
• Signing a poster of the Soyuz rocket on the pad at the Gagarin Memorial Museum in Baikonur.
• Not attending the rollout and erection of the Soyuz on the pad.

posted September 19, 2005 11:18 PM            

From "Titan" by Stephen Baxter:

There were more rituals, as they headed out of the building towards the bus that would take them to the pad. There was a card game called Possum's Fargo that they had to play, for instance, with a couple of the techs. Rosenberg couldn't believe his eyes. Here they were, the five of them, like huge insects in their glaring orange pressure suits, standing around a table to play what seemed like, to him, a kid's version of poker. But - rigid tradition had it - they couldn't leave, until the commander, Angel in this case, had lost a hand. It took six hands.

posted September 20, 2005 12:59 AM               

1. Rookie cosmonauts don't sign autographs outside of those dictated by other traditions (ie. the door, Gagarin's Guest Book)

2. The "Cosmonaut's song" night before launch - started with Vostok 3/4 but I'm not sure that has continued, although the song is still popular among cosmonauts, and still played in space. I have full versions of the lyrics (Russian and English) if anyone is interested. "I believe my friends caravans of rockets will carry us from star to star..." the refrain goes.

posted October 17, 2005 09:53 PM               

On edit: Suzy's web site has this movie, White Sun of the Desert.

posted March 02, 2008 04:19 PM               

Xinhua: Russians vote for Putin's successor from earth, in outer space

While millions of Russian voters went to the polls on Sunday amid snow flurries to elect their new president, Yuri Malenchenko cast his ballot far away from any polling station on Earth -- He voted in outer space.

"Malenchenko's trusted person will enter a special room where he can comfortably talk with his comrade working in orbit and, having learnt his decision, fill out a ballot and drop it into a special ballot box that will then be carried to the territorial election commission," Cosmonauts' Training Center spokesman Sergei Tafrov said.

While Malenchenko is radio-contacting his friend, the cosmonauts from Star City will go to the Cosmonauts' House where three polling stations have been set up to cast their ballots simultaneously with him.

"By voting simultaneously with Malenchenko, they will show their solidarity with their colleague who is doing his duty under the challenging conditions of space," Tafrov said, adding that the way they voted could probably start a new voting tradition.

posted March 02, 2008 06:38 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by kosmonavtka:
"There were more rituals, as they headed out of the building towards the bus that would take them to the pad. There was a card game called Possum's Fargo that they had to play, for instance, with a couple of the techs."

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posted May 28, 2008 05:09 AM               

It may seem incredible that in the world of manned spaceflight, of high-tech mission control and protocols for everything, there is a body of folklore, superstition, and tradition that is followed by each and every crewmember as if performing a sacred rite. Invocation of spirits of the dead, holy water, lucky card games, talismans, ritual words to be uttered at certain times -- it reads like the initiation into some secret lodge.

posted August 23, 2010 06:48 PM               

Superstition has even found its way into NASA, which has always selected its pilots from the military services. Space shuttle astronaut Robert "Hoot" Gibson, an ex-Navy fighter pilot, recalls that on launch day, the schedule gives the crew about 15 minutes between suiting up and heading to the pad. During that period, the astronauts would stand around a high table in the suit-up area, joined by the Chief of the Astronaut Office and the Director of Flight Operations. A deck of cards would appear, and they would play a homegrown game called Possum Fargo. Five-card hands were dealt. No betting, no further cards. Just a rapid deal. Whoever had the lowest hand won the round.

"It's like poker, 180 degrees out," says Gibson. "The lowest you could get was 2,3,4,5,7 [a 6 gave you a straight]. That was the winningest hand." The crew could not leave until the commander of the mission won a hand--for good luck. "You were not ready to walk out of there until he won," says Gibson. He doesn't know who created the game or who named it. But he played it on every one of his five missions.

Four-time shuttle astronaut Tom Jones has a slightly different recollection of Possum Fargo. "We watched the commander play the card game in the suit-up room against the chief of the Flight Crew Operations Directorate," says Jones. "Rest of the crew does not play, and I don't know the game. My opinion is that the kind of people I crewed with did not get there by being superstitious, so it's a trait bred out of the astronaut corps for the most part." But he admits that the commander had to get that low hand before launch. "Once you lose, you can go out to the pad," says Jones. Or win, he means, with that lousy hand.

posted August 24, 2010 09:02 AM               

He did it just as a way of clearing his mind, while at the same time putting the word in just in case the engine gods were listening... he did not get into specifics but I took that to mean a sort of pep talk to the engines 'come on guys... work with me" sort of thing. He asked if it sounded crazy but to be honest, but it made sense to me... anything one can do to help.

posted September 01, 2010 05:42 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by kyra:
Rookie cosmonauts don't sign autographs outside of those dictated by other traditions (ie. the door, Gagarin's Guest Book)

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Initially, it was only the cosmonauts from Energiya who wouldn't sign before their first flight. They would say it was a tradition, but it was more superstition and not everyone stuck to it.

Several Energiya people did sign for me (albeit in person, not through the mail). Of those, Kononenko, Yurchikhin, and others have since flown in the meantime. Several others are assigned to a mission.

Military cosmonauts only began following this "tradition" in recent years. Several dozen of them signed for me (again: in person) prior to their first flight or flight assignment.