Rituals of a Rocket Launch
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- Why do astronauts pee on the wheel of a bus before they take off? Do superstitious traditions really help astronauts about to fire into space? Kevin Fong investigates.
Day 15 of A Place Called Space, our 2015 advent calendar: rigb.org/advent
As Tim Peake launches to the ISS, we take a look at the strange traditions, rituals and superstitions that astronauts dutifully carry out before any flight into space. Following in the footsteps of Yuri Gagarin, they echo his actions and pay respects to those that have flown before them. But given that space travel is the culmination of decades of work of scientists and engineers, do these irrational quirks have a place and purpose?
Maybe - just as athletes build confidence and assurance by carrying out certain pre-game habits, so too can astronauts, as they struggle to feel a sense of control over the daunting prospect of being fired into space.
‘A Place Called Space’ is the 2015 Royal Institution advent calendar. Every day in the run up to Christmas we'll be releasing an original piece of content exploring the human experience and cultural significance of space travel. With hand-drawn animations, experiments in zero gravity, interviews with astronauts and creative data visualisations, the calendar will fire you into space every morning.
'A Place Called Space' channels the voices of seasoned astronauts and expert scientists through the eyes of a team of talented animators, film-makers and artists, bringing you a thought-provoking gem to kick-start each day.
Check it out at rigb.org/advent
With special thanks to our lead supporter, Wellcome Trust www.wellcome.ac...
Music Credit:
"Americana" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons...
“Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie (
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0
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Official image credit:
NASA
“Heading out into the Steppe” by NMK Photography via Flickr (flic.kr/p/e3okCE)
"Soviet cosmonauts" from RIA Novosti archive via Wikimedia Commons (bit.ly/1lsgAYd)
creativecommon...
“Yuri Gagarin's office. Recreated with his actual furniture “ by Christopher Michel via Flickr (flic.kr/p/nKDU3R)
“Signing Guest book at Gagarin's office in Star City's museum (as backup crew)” by Samantha Cristoforetti via Flickr (flic.kr/p/no9gUE)
“Day 4 Basketball (18 August 2010)” by SPH-SYOGOC / Gary Goh via Flickr (flic.kr/p/8tibKT)
“Day 8 Basketball (22 Aug 2010)” by SPH-SYOGOC/YUSUF ABDOL HAMID via Flickr (flic.kr/p/8uoSyo)
“Day 9 Basketball (23 August 2010)” by SYOGOC/Steven Tor via Flickr (flic.kr/p/8uL4a9)
“Day 8 Basketball (22 Aug 2010)” by SPH-SYOGOC/Joseph Nair via Flickr (flic.kr/p/8uoTLA)
“Day 8 Basketball (22 Aug 2010)” by SYOGOC/Foo Chee Chang via Flickr (flic.kr/p/8uoTEq)
References:
Barclay, E. (2012, August 9) Healing in Repetition. [Magazine article] Retrieved from www.npr.org/sec...
Gino, F. and Norton, M.I. (2013, May 14) Why Rituals Work. [Magazine aritcle] Retrieved from www.scientifica...
Lewis, T. (2012, August 12) Peanuts, blackjack and pee: strangest space mission superstitions. [Magazine article] Retrieved from www.wired.com/2...
Murphy, A. (2008, May 27) The losing hand: tradition and superstition in spaceflight. [Online article] Retrieved from www.thespacerev...
Damisch, L. et al. (2010) Keep Your Fingers Crossed! How Superstition Improves Performance. Psychological Science 21(7): 1014-1020
Foster, S.J. et al. (2006) The Effect of Removing Supersitious Behavior and Introducing a Pre-Performance Routine on Basketball Free-Throw Performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 18(2): 161-171
Legare, C.H. and Watson-Jones, R.E. (2015) The Evolution and Ontogeny of Ritual. In H. L. Miller, Jr. (Gen. ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Theory in Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishers.
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You're wrong, urinating before launch does make flight safer by decreasing the liftoff weight load. How can The Royal Institute miss this rational fact?
+Joe Eoj The difference is negligible, and those rockets are definitely designed to carry more than just the crew.
TheFishCostume
and more than one bladder that is full.........
+TheFishCostume
Captian obvious, I think your humor meter needs recalibration for the internet.
superdau Poe's Law is a bitch.
TheFishCostume
having to pee before a launch is a bitch too ;-)
Priest on a launchpad is outrageous. Space science and space travel is flagship of progress, pinnacle of technology and rational thinking. Any number of facepalms would be enough to cover the shame.
+azgarogly ...so you did not what the video did you?
+azgarogly Yep, this looks really stupid. Priests came to Baikonur after the collapse of Soviet Union, in the middle of 90-th. Orthodox church had a large government support since then, and still has it. There is a popular sad joke in Russia that the church should compensate the price of rocket after unsuccessful launches because the failure is it's fault - the priests didn't make a proper blessing. Unfortunately, no charges to priests so far.
i can smell you go take a shower atheist
cope yuri gargarin was orthodox christian
@@pranavr0y
Do you have any reference on that?
Purely theoretically being born in 1936 in russian village he was probably raised as orthodox. But as far as I know, in his teen years and especially in flight school and the air force the tolaranse towards religion was near zero.
On the other hand, even if he would be devoted chrisian, that does not say much. When he was selected as a first cosmonaut, the physical health and clean biography did matter. Courage and ambition much more important than intellect and reasonable thinking.
In Vostok-1 he was more like a passenger and his mission profile did not differ very much from the dogs that where flying before him.
Haha. Russians are full of rituals. Although I'm not sure how dousing their rocket (and reporters) with water will make them feel safer?
And this must've definitely hurt: 3:00
kind of reminds me of how when I was in school, before I tried to unlock my locker, I would always turn the dial of the padlock 3 times to the right. I never knew that this was actually pointless until I decided to be daring and just unlock it. It worked, to my surprise! The placebo effect is pretty powerful
Patterns where they don't exist? You mean like constellations?
Yes, just like constellations.
AnonEyeMouse
yeah...I like being a human being.
+BariumCobaltNitrog3n I hate constellations so much. Whenever someone says they love space because of the pretty patterns stars make in the sky, you know they don't really love space.
cortster12
Yeah well, it was the first thing that came to mind. We also find patterns where they do exist, like galaxies, nebulae, binary star systems, solar systems and that face on Mars! Martians do exist! lol. And c'mon let the the little people love space too, in their own ignorant way. I can spot all the planets in the night sky when they are out, but have trouble finding the big dipper. I don't think I've ever seen Orion, even when pointed out. But our city, Oakland, has a fantastic set of scopes that welcome all lovers of space called Chabot Space and Science Center and every week sidewalk astronomers set up their gear to share their excitement with the everyday folk. Also, out back? A secret archery range.
BariumCobaltNitrog3n The only use for constellations is navigation to find certain stars, but other than that...
very what could imagine scientific relating position n attitude :)
I feel the need to go bless the back tire of my truck now.
what?!!! brushing your teeth doesent have any pozitive beneficial efect?! are you serious? if i dont brush my teeth for a day shit happens
Or, optics hiding the occult
❤
Humans didn't go to the moon
We all know that the earth is hollow, the moon is a projection, the sky is actually green but we are lead to believe that it is blue by the illuminati, Hitler lives on Mars and that Lizardmen and Gigmen are not real...
Gagarin hasn't been to any space, he's just a communist actor. Rockets don't work in a vacuum.
This is stupid behaviour.. I lost a little bit of respect for Russian space agency!