Soyuz Image

[Arrowstar]

I found this image at the BBC website this morning and thought it was interesting for a variety of reasons, so I thought I'd share.

A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is due to take a Canadian billionaire and two astronauts to the International Space Station.

Image was found on this page: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8280480.stm

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah, the tradition. A Soyuz launch is no operation, but rather a religious service.

Traveling into space on a Soyuz is really a special experience, NASA does not have this amount of traditions and strange customs in their program.

 

[n122vu]

Hail Probe!

or

In former Soviet Russia, Soyuz Spacecraft would bless you.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Here's just a few of the strange Soyuz pre-launch traditions that I'm aware of:

The night before launch, crews have to watch the movie "White Sun of the Desert".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sun_of_the_Desert

On the way to the launch pad, crews have to get out of their bus & visit Yuri Gagarin's old office (which has been preserved exactly the way he left it since the day he died).

Also on the way to the launch pad, the bus carrying the crews has to stop, and the crew have to get out and urinate up the bus's wheel, just as Yuri Gagarin did.

 

[SiberianTiger]

I found this image at the BBC website this morning and thought it was interesting for a variety of reasons, so I thought I'd share.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8280480.stm

Most of today's Cosmonauts are religious people, just like the rest of the military. So, no big surprise they welcome a blessing. On other hand, the decision to accept or not the personal blessing is always voluntary.

 

[Suzy]

I suppose it's preferable to sacrificing goats... Maybe NASA should consider that option, next time there is a Shuttle launch delay

(I have a page of traditions on my site)

 

[SiberianTiger]

I suppose it's preferable to sacrificing goats... Maybe NASA should consider that option, next time there is a Shuttle launch delay

(I have a page of traditions on my site)

But they sacrifice lambs at Baikonur several times a year... But the last time I heard, they do it outside the security perimeters and with no relation to rocket launches.

BTW, the bus wheel tradition just makes me wonder how actually a certain part of a Sokol is made. It's supposed to be a pressure suit, so how a pressure fly can be made?

 

[tblaxland]

BTW, the bus wheel tradition just makes me wonder how actually a certain part of a Sokol is made. It's supposed to be a pressure suit, so how a pressure fly can be made?

Pressure sealing zippers? http://books.google.com.au/books?id...4#v=onepage&q=pressure sealing zipper&f=false

 

[Urwumpe]

Does somebody remember the good old times at KSC, when Günther Wendt was the last human face you saw before lifting off... that was a tradition...

 

[Moonwalker]

I wonder where Guenther Wendt... :lol:

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 PM ----------

Well, although I'm not really a religious/spiritual person, I would not refuse the welcome of the blessing in case my other two crew members also get one. I don't think that such a blessing has any real effect beside what it does to our subjective believe and feelings, but on the other hand it also won't do any harm. I fully respect that.

I think that the majority of NASA people are also quite religious persons.

On the way to the launch pad, crews have to get out of their bus & visit Yuri Gagarin's old office (which has been preserved exactly the way he left it since the day he died).

That's something I really like. What any astronaut does is build up from what Gagarin did as the first one. Too bad NASA has almost no such a pre-launch tradition beside the breakfast which is actually not a real tradition. Space flight is something special, and I think a few traditions should belong to it.

Also on the way to the launch pad, the bus carrying the crews has to stop, and the crew have to get out and urinate up the bus's wheel, just as Yuri Gagarin did.

If this is true, I don't really like it :lol: That's too much

 

[eveningsky339]

As far as I know, Friendship 7 is the only American spacecraft that's received a pre-launch blessing, courtesy of Dave Carpenter.

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't think that such a blessing has any real effect.

Jesco von Puttkamer just said different. The Russians do that because they know that the rocket will blow up when they don't do this.

 

[Star Voyager]

As far as I know, Friendship 7 is the only American spacecraft that's received a pre-launch blessing, courtesy of Dave Carpenter.

You mean Scott Capenter?

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Also on the way to the launch pad, the bus carrying the crews has to stop, and the crew have to get out and urinate up the bus's wheel, just as Yuri Gagarin did.

If this is true, I don't really like it :lol: That's too much

 

[tblaxland]

Pressure sealing zippers? http://books.google.com.au/books?id...4#v=onepage&q=pressure sealing zipper&f=false

It seems not. From Suzy's site:

There is a “big appendix” in the envelope (for the spacesuit donning) and a “small appendix” in the lower part (for urination). The “appendices” are made of rubberized cotton fabric and are pressurized by means of two rubber tight plaits.

Not quite sure what the "plait" would look like. Some sort of knot, I guess.

 

[Urwumpe]

Sounds more like a common rubber seal (direct translations of Russian engineering terms sound stranger than they are)...similar to the stuff you have for plastic bags today (ZipLock).

 

[SiberianTiger]

If this is true, I don't really like it :lol: That's too much

But unlike the rest of them, this particular custom is highly practical. Although it's somewhat discriminating towards women.

 

[T.Neo]

Not quite sure what the "plait" would look like. Some sort of knot, I guess.

It is some sort of knot, AFAIK. Was watching a TV documentary once about the first South African in space, and there was a short segment when they discussed the Sokol suit. I don't remember it very clearly, however.

 

[Andy44]

Is the clergyman reading from the Book of Holy Hand Grenades?

 

[eveningsky339]

You mean Scott Capenter?

Whoops, I just made myself look like a moron.