Exactly 60 years ago, the Soviet Union experienced perhaps its most triumphant moment in space competition with the United States, announcing the success of the first human flight in history. Yuri Gagarin made one full circle around the Earth in the “Vostok-1” mission and successfully returned. However, before the flight, Gagarin did this on Earth as well, and this time we do not mean long-term training and various engineering aspects in the preparation phase of the mission. These are some of Gagarin’s actions, which immediately after the successful flight became a tradition of astronauts launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which must be followed before each flight to be successful. Yes, superstition, but on the other hand, planting and patching a tree before a long trip hasn’t hurt anyone, has it?
In the period after the cessation of NASA’s space plan or shuttle program in 2011 and until the first SpaceX Dragon flight with humans, NASA and European Space Agency astronauts were the only way to get to the International Space Station (ISS) with the Soyuz from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Western flights with “Soyuz” also took place before the end of the shuttle era. And, yes, they also observed at least part of the traditions of Russian astronauts established during Gagarin’s time and later before the start. Many well-known Western astronauts have shared their memories in their memoirs and interviews with the media – Scott Kelly, an American, Chris Hadfield, a Canadian, and Tim Peak and a number of others.
In addition, some of these traditions will be tried to be established before the start of the US territory. Towards the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Benken also performed some rituals. “We feel a certain responsibility to continue some of these nice traditions that both Soyuz crews and shawl crews follow before the flights. Maybe we’ll come up with some new ones,” Hurley said. One of them, which has been observed by all astronauts from Baikonur since Gagarin’s time, is the planting of a tree.
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