Who Has the Best Pre-Space Launch Superstitions? Hint: Not US

Fifty years ago today, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. In the half-century following, many men and women have followed in his flight path---and come up with a slew of unusual rituals meant to help their missions go smoothly, described in a 2008 article in The Space Review. Here are Discoblog's rankings of various space programs' pre-launch superstitions: USA: