Space data center: 24 hours before launch
Friends, tomorrow, on the Day of Cosmonautics, at 15 o'clock, our small server will go to pre-cosmos - to the stratosphere. While our equipment passes the last checks, we are nervous if everything will go well, whether something is wrong, whether everything has been calculated correctly.
Flight into space is one of the most difficult journeys in the history of mankind. The complexity of technology and the scientific apparatus, thanks to which a person can fly away from the planet, live at an altitude of 450 km and return, very few people can realize even among those for whom astronautics is part of life. The reasons for which the flight may be unsuccessful and even tragic, a myriad. And it is not surprising that almost all astronauts are very superstitious and believe in omens. And not only they: for many decades a whole set of rituals has taken shape, which every cosmonaut must observe in order for the flight to succeed.
')
And now, when there are exactly a day left before our launch, we want to tell you about the signs that exist among astronauts.
First, in the domestic space program it is practically officially forbidden to fly on Monday. This tradition originated in the 1960s, when 11 accidents occurred during the Monday launches. Of course, the increased accident rate on the first day of the week can be explained much more prosaically. No mysticism, a banal human factor: Monday is the beginning of the working week after the weekend, when hundreds and thousands of people, on whom the reliability of the most complicated technology depends, enter into a working rhythm, return to the collective, again face the stress of high responsibility. Against this background, the likelihood of errors increases, and errors in cosmonautics are much more expensive than in aviation.
Also, we do not fly into space on October 24 - on this day in 1960 and 1963, accidents with human victims occurred at Baikonur.
Before being sent to the cosmodrome, the crew necessarily brings flowers to the memorial in honor of Yuri Gagarin and the first dead cosmonauts: Vladimir Komarov (died returning on April 24, 1967), as well as Georgiy Dobrovolsky, Victor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov (they died all of the crew on returning July 30, 1971 ).
Then the astronauts come to the memorial "front" office of Gagarin, which is kept in the form it was 60 years ago.
Two weeks before the launch, the cosmonauts come to Baikonur and stay at the hotel with the very resourceful name Cosmonaut. There, each of them plants on a name tree. Previously, it was decided to plant them after the flight, and now before. Today, more than 100 trees grow on the alley (not all have got accustomed).
Two days before launch, a rocket with a spacecraft is taken out of the assembly and test case on the launch pad. Accompanying technology - it is allowed only to them - they put coins on the rails for “happiness”. And the astronauts on this day and do not let them close: bad luck, to see the ship before the launch day.
The day before the launch, the crew necessarily watches the film “White Sun of the Desert”. This tradition originated due to the successful flight that took place after the tragic death of Dobrovolsky, Patsayev and Volkov. Allegedly, the crew looked at the film before the flight and returned safely to Earth. Since then, the joint viewing of the White Sun of the Desert has become a ritual.
On the day of launch, the astronauts drink a sip of carbonated mineral water, and the backup crew must take 100 g of technical alcohol per breast. There is a bike that when it was not done, there were accidents. What just do not come up with, just to justify the libation :)
Then the astronauts on the doors of their rooms in the hotel leave their autographs, which are carefully preserved.
Finally, the astronauts in space suits to the sounds of the immortal song “Grass at Home” are loaded onto the bus and sent to the launch pad. Upon arrival, the crew performs another ritual, which, according to legend, began with Gagarin himself: before many hours of flight into orbit, you need to “stream” the wheel of the bus. After that, the suits are tightly battened down.
Then it is time for a solemn report on readiness, wave to journalists and other accompanying hand and get on board.
And already inside the ship, lying in the anti-overload seats, the astronauts hang a soft toy on a string, which is called Boris. This is a talisman that is chosen by the crew commander. On the one hand, the tradition, on the other - the talisman is hung in the field of view of a video camera, through which the astronauts are observed from the Flight Control Center. And when the toy "floats", it means weightlessness.
On this let me finish the story, it's time to prepare a stratostat and equipment. Begins the last countdown.
And we invite you to participate in our contest "guess the place of landing of the stratostat". The main prize to the one who most accurately guesses is a trip to Baikonur in the summer to launch the Soyuz MS-13 manned vehicle. It is possible that luck will smile on you, and you personally will see a karagach on Baikonur, planted by Gagarin.
Flight into space is one of the most difficult journeys in the history of mankind. The complexity of technology and the scientific apparatus, thanks to which a person can fly away from the planet, live at an altitude of 450 km and return, very few people can realize even among those for whom astronautics is part of life. The reasons for which the flight may be unsuccessful and even tragic, a myriad. And it is not surprising that almost all astronauts are very superstitious and believe in omens. And not only they: for many decades a whole set of rituals has taken shape, which every cosmonaut must observe in order for the flight to succeed.
')
And now, when there are exactly a day left before our launch, we want to tell you about the signs that exist among astronauts.
First, in the domestic space program it is practically officially forbidden to fly on Monday. This tradition originated in the 1960s, when 11 accidents occurred during the Monday launches. Of course, the increased accident rate on the first day of the week can be explained much more prosaically. No mysticism, a banal human factor: Monday is the beginning of the working week after the weekend, when hundreds and thousands of people, on whom the reliability of the most complicated technology depends, enter into a working rhythm, return to the collective, again face the stress of high responsibility. Against this background, the likelihood of errors increases, and errors in cosmonautics are much more expensive than in aviation.
Also, we do not fly into space on October 24 - on this day in 1960 and 1963, accidents with human victims occurred at Baikonur.
Before being sent to the cosmodrome, the crew necessarily brings flowers to the memorial in honor of Yuri Gagarin and the first dead cosmonauts: Vladimir Komarov (died returning on April 24, 1967), as well as Georgiy Dobrovolsky, Victor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov (they died all of the crew on returning July 30, 1971 ).
Then the astronauts come to the memorial "front" office of Gagarin, which is kept in the form it was 60 years ago.
Two weeks before the launch, the cosmonauts come to Baikonur and stay at the hotel with the very resourceful name Cosmonaut. There, each of them plants on a name tree. Previously, it was decided to plant them after the flight, and now before. Today, more than 100 trees grow on the alley (not all have got accustomed).
Two days before launch, a rocket with a spacecraft is taken out of the assembly and test case on the launch pad. Accompanying technology - it is allowed only to them - they put coins on the rails for “happiness”. And the astronauts on this day and do not let them close: bad luck, to see the ship before the launch day.
The day before the launch, the crew necessarily watches the film “White Sun of the Desert”. This tradition originated due to the successful flight that took place after the tragic death of Dobrovolsky, Patsayev and Volkov. Allegedly, the crew looked at the film before the flight and returned safely to Earth. Since then, the joint viewing of the White Sun of the Desert has become a ritual.
On the day of launch, the astronauts drink a sip of carbonated mineral water, and the backup crew must take 100 g of technical alcohol per breast. There is a bike that when it was not done, there were accidents. What just do not come up with, just to justify the libation :)
Then the astronauts on the doors of their rooms in the hotel leave their autographs, which are carefully preserved.
Finally, the astronauts in space suits to the sounds of the immortal song “Grass at Home” are loaded onto the bus and sent to the launch pad. Upon arrival, the crew performs another ritual, which, according to legend, began with Gagarin himself: before many hours of flight into orbit, you need to “stream” the wheel of the bus. After that, the suits are tightly battened down.
Then it is time for a solemn report on readiness, wave to journalists and other accompanying hand and get on board.
And already inside the ship, lying in the anti-overload seats, the astronauts hang a soft toy on a string, which is called Boris. This is a talisman that is chosen by the crew commander. On the one hand, the tradition, on the other - the talisman is hung in the field of view of a video camera, through which the astronauts are observed from the Flight Control Center. And when the toy "floats", it means weightlessness.
On this let me finish the story, it's time to prepare a stratostat and equipment. Begins the last countdown.
And we invite you to participate in our contest "guess the place of landing of the stratostat". The main prize to the one who most accurately guesses is a trip to Baikonur in the summer to launch the Soyuz MS-13 manned vehicle. It is possible that luck will smile on you, and you personally will see a karagach on Baikonur, planted by Gagarin.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/447682/
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