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:
Eat a steak-and-eggs breakfast. Alan Shepard, the first American in space, had this meal before his 1961 launch. Plus, it's thought to, uh, decrease the need to do things you'd rather not do in a space suit. (Then again, Shepard is probably not the best example for that, considering he famously peed his suit while Freedom 7 was mired in protracted delays on the launch pad.)
Take a load off. Before a mission, astronauts sit in the same leather armchairs the Apollo guys sat in. Not just for ...
