{"id":1741,"date":"2015-12-15T18:35:04","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T17:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2015-12-15T18:35:04","modified_gmt":"2015-12-15T17:35:04","slug":"peake-viewing-from-bizarre-astronaut-traditions-to-awe-inspiring-blast-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/science-mct\/space\/peake-viewing-from-bizarre-astronaut-traditions-to-awe-inspiring-blast-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Peake viewing: from bizarre astronaut traditions to awe-inspiring blast off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having spent days following him around, it was amazing to finally see the first official UK astronaut, Major Tim Peake, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nasa.gov\/spacestation\/2015\/12\/15\/crew-on-quick-trip-to-station-after-flawless-launch\/\">launched into space<\/a> from Russia\u2019s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He\u2019s been through six years of training to get to this moment, and will do a six-month tour of duty on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/station\/main\/index.html\">International Space Station<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I was part of the press team that followed Peake and his crew mates <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jsc.nasa.gov\/Bios\/htmlbios\/kopra-tl.pdf\">Tim Kopra<\/a> (NASA) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yurimalenchenko.com\/\">Yuri Malenchenko<\/a> (Roscosmos) around as they went through the final few tests prior to their launch. It was a really interesting experience seeing all the strange traditions taking place away from the public eye \u2013 and not just from the point of view of finding out about astronaut preparation.<\/p>\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/I_tb-vqt89I?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0\" width=\"440\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"caption\">Lift off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The launch itself was spectacular: the white Soyuz rocket, arrowing into the clear blue sky, the blaze of flame from the engines, shortly followed by the thunder or their sound. Plenty of cliches in that description, but all are true. It took only a few seconds for the rocket to disappear from view \u2013 a tiny bright dot gradually fading as it gained height. Shortly afterwards came the announcement that the third stage had separated. This was the signal that the spacecraft was on its final course to the International Space Station \u2013 and that Major Tim would be experiencing complete weightlessness for the first time.<\/p>\n<h2>If Gagarin did it \u2026<\/h2>\n<p>It has been a bizarre few days, the high-tech reality of a rocket launch played out against the background of traditions that have grown up around the Russian (formerly Soviet) space programme.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-first-space-walk-happened-50-years-ago-and-nearly-ended-in-disaster-38921\">Yuri Gagarin<\/a> was the first man in space (in 1961), and almost everything he did prior to launch is repeated by current crews. So they watch a film, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0066565\/\">White Suns of the Desert<\/a> \u2013 a Russian film set at the end of civil war when Fyodor Sukhov, a Red Army soldier, has to guard the harem of a guerrilla leader \u2013 the night before launch, because Gagarin did. They plant a tree in Heroes Avenue, because Gagarin did.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/106102\/width668\/image-20151215-23166-iwpkc8.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"caption\">Tim\u2019s twig.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">Monica Grady<\/span>, <span class=\"license\">Author provided<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>And they even \u201cwater\u201d the bus, like Gagarin did. This last tradition is utterly bizarre \u2013 apparently, Gagarin needed a quick loo break before he climbed into his rocket, so when the bus carrying him arrived at the launch pad, he, er, relieved himself against the offside back wheel. So now, each crew member does the same \u2026 albeit in a slightly more sanitised way, by preparing a small bottle in advance, which is emptied against the wheel. Since this takes place out of the public eye, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the story \u2013 but it sounds plausible given the rest of the traditions followed.<\/p>\n<p>Some traditions have grown up since Gagarin. The crew walk out to the bus which takes them from the cosmonauts&#8217; hotel (where they have lived \u201cin quarantine\u201d for the past two weeks) to the sound of the Russian song \u201cGrass by your house\u201d (a literal translation) about a cosmonaut in space thinking longingly of his home). On Monday, we watched as several priests from the Russian Orthodox church blessed the rocket. They sprinkled holy water over the base of the rocket \u2013 and then with considerable enthusiasm over the press pack. This is not a tradition which started with Gagarin in 1961 as religious observance was not encouraged in the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n<h2>Peake inspiration<\/h2>\n<p>Peake is not one of the pioneers of space exploration, or even commanding the mission. But he is special because of what he represents: a commitment to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/Our_Activities\/Human_Spaceflight\">European Space Agency\u2019s Human Spaceflight Programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/106112\/width668\/image-20151215-23871-1a8jj8z.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"caption\">Tim Peake says goodbye to his children.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"http:\/\/pictures.reuters.com\/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZZIHBNW6&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1275&amp;RH=644#\/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZZIHBNW6&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1275&amp;RH=644&amp;POPUPPN=7&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1OT6CTG3\">POOL new\/Reuters<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This may not seem hugely important at first sight \u2013 surely there are better ways of spending the millions of pounds going into the mission? But actually, the knowledge we are gaining through <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/yearinspace-mission-could-do-wonders-for-your-grandad-heres-how-39441\">the experiments on the ISS<\/a> \u2013 including new findings about ageing, neural degeneration, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/boldly-going-into-space-for-1-000-days-presents-a-series-of-health-risks-39442\">muscle wastage<\/a> and so forth \u2013 will benefit us all. But you just have to look at the faces of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-35101643\">children who gathered<\/a> at London\u2019s Science Museum to watch the launch to realise that there is a much more important reason for the UK to remain part of the Spaceflight programme: inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>The UK is chronically short of the scientists and engineers it needs for its high tech industries. We also don\u2019t have enough teachers with science and engineering qualifications to educate the next generation of rocket scientists and astronauts \u2013 or the next generation of news reporters, IT specialists doctors and nurses. Peake\u2019s launch has stirred the pride of a nation \u2013 or at least the youth of the nation, going by the enthusiasm with which <a href=\"https:\/\/principia.org.uk\/\">an education campaign<\/a> run by the UK Space Agency has been met.<\/p>\n<p>It needed something like this space mission to get people talking \u2013 even if it is to disagree about the value of spending so much money on launching someone into space.<\/p>\n<p>What will I take away from this experience? Not the launch, nor the excitement of being part of an historic occasion. But the voice of a little boy, one of Peake\u2019s sons, crying as his father got on the bus: \u201cI want to go with daddy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/52359\/count.gif\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Written by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/monica-grady-125306\">Monica Grady<\/a>, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-open-university\">The Open University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article was originally published on <a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a>. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/peake-viewing-from-bizarre-astronaut-traditions-to-awe-inspiring-blast-off-52359\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having spent days following him around, it was amazing to finally see the first official UK astronaut, Major Tim Peake, launched into space from Russia\u2019s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He\u2019s been through six years of training to get to this moment, and will do a six-month tour of duty on the International Space Station. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[835,1818,2084],"class_list":["post-1741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space","tag-european-space-agency","tag-professor-monica-grady","tag-space-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}