Astronauts honour bizarre list of superstitions before taking off

IT’S taken years of training and millions of dollars. But before these astronauts blasted off this week, they committed a very bizarre series of private rituals.

Blast-off. Photographers watch Russia’s Soyuz TMA-19M leave for the International Space Station. Picture: AFP/Kirill Kudryavtsev

IT’S taken six years of training for six months work — and when Britain’s first publicly funded astronaut blasted off this week, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

Former helicopter pilot Tim Peake, 43, docked on the International Space Station along with Russian Yury Malenchenko and NASA’s Tim Kopra six hours after taking off from Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

Yet behind the carefully planned launch and millions of dollars invested, the trio followed a bizarre set of superstitions that date back to the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, before his flight in 1961.

Open University professor of planetary and space sciences Monica Grady followed the crew before their launch and said they watched the movie White Suns of the Desert and plant a tree in Heroes Avenue, just as Gagarin did.

They also walked out to a Russian song which translates to “Grass by your house” and reportedly took turns to urinate on the back right hand wheel of the bus, a time-honoured tradition that is even thought to have seen female astronauts pee in a cup and splash it over.

Russia's Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 46/47 crew of Britain's astronaut Tim Peake, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Tim Kopra blasts off from the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome on December 15, 2015. AFP PHOTO / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV

The traditions mentioned are just some of those rituals reportedly honoured by Russian and American astronauts which date back to the 1960s.

Russian rockets are reportedly blessed by orthodox priests, while astronauts get a haircut and don’t watch their rocket enter the track, instead leaving coins for it to flatten.

American space travellers are said to have their own quirks, including eating scrambled eggs for breakfast, playing blackjack and snacking on peanuts during critical moments.

Britain’s Tim Peake prepared for Tuesday’s lift-off by listening to Queen, U2 and Coldplay and said he will try a new tea-making process in space. While on board, he will conduct valuable experiments on ageing and muscle wastage in the human body.

BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN - DECEMBER 15: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (NO SALES) In this handout image supplied by NASA, Expedition 46 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), top, Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA, center, and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency), bottom, wave farewell prior to boarding the Soyuz TMA-19M rocket for launch on December 15, 2015 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Soyuz TMA-19M is scheduled to launch on December 15 carrying crew members Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA, and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) to the International Space Station for a six-month mission, as part of Expedition 46. (Photo by NASA/ Joel Kowsky via Getty Images)***BESTPIX***

Peake’s status as the first publicly funded British astronaut and the first to visit the International Space Station is credited with putting space back on the agenda in the UK.

Italian European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who holds the record for the longest female single space flight having spent 199 days there, told Scotland’s Press Association he will have the “greatest time in his life”.

“There’s a lot of work up there. You show up and you jump right into the scientific program, the technical work, the maintenance. Whatever you need to keep the space station running and to keep the science moving forward up there, he is ready to do.

“But he will also have a magnificent view of our planet from the window. He will be part of an incredible team of very dedicated people and he will do a lot of outreach work”.