Astronauts watch the white sun of the desert. Superstitions and signs of astronauts

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin smiled broadly and said, "Let's go!" and became the first person to fly into space. Since then, on this day, Cosmonautics Day has been celebrated all over the world, and abroad this day is called international day human flight into space.

Our colleagues from the Novosibirsk portal of the NGS, together with the Cosmonaut Training Center. Yu. A. Gagarin and Russian test cosmonaut Oleg Blinov prepared a test with 11 difficult questions about the training of pilots, life in space and a little bit about the history of space flights.

Take the test and find out if you will be taken to the stars.

1. Let's start simple. Candidates undergo anthropometric selection: they measure height, weight, chest circumference and even the maximum distance between the corners of the armpits. Guess what foot size limit there is in the Training Center.

• There are no restrictions, the size of shoes can be any.
• The ships are small, it's cramped - a person with a shoe size larger than 43 has nothing to do there.
• I think they take up to the 45th size for sure.

2. Before the flight, Russian crews traditionally watch the Soviet film by Vladimir Motyl "White Sun of the Desert". Why him?

• Roskosmos bought the right to show this film.
• According to a study by psychologists, it is this film that helps to unload emotionally before the start.
• Astronauts on board are required to keep a video chronicle. On the example of the film, they are taught camera and directing skills.

3. So, you have successfully completed the training and went into orbit. How many times in 24 hours will you see sunrise?

• How many time zones - so many sunrises, that is, 24.
• Finger in the sky, but let it be 16 times.
• There is only one dawn, both on Earth and in space.

4. Here is a glove that astronauts put on before spacewalks. What do astronauts determine from the values ​​in the table on the glove sleeve?

5. There is a day in Baikonur when there are no starts. What date is this and why?

6. Astronauts can take any food and drinks with them, except for alcohol. You'll never guess why!

• Because you can't drive drunk!
• Alcohol is highly flammable, and a fire on board is a terrible accident.
• So that there are no conflicts between astronauts in space - alcohol warms them up.

7. You left your entire wine bar at home, but something caught fire on your spaceship anyway. How are fires put out in space?

• We urgently need to descend to Earth!
• The ISS has fire extinguishers for this case.
• In order for the fire to quickly go out, you need to cut off the oxygen - depressurize the ship.

8. The International Space Station needs regular resupply. Multi-purpose supply modules for the ISS deliver the necessary scientific equipment and other cargo to the station. There are three of them, and each has a name. Guess what they were called.

• In honor of famous cosmonauts - "Gagarin", "Tereshkova" and "Titov".
• Like ninja turtles - "Leonardo", "Raphael" and "Donatello"!
• They were named according to their sizes: “Baby”, “Universal” and “Healthy”.

9. How does weightlessness affect the body of an astronaut?

• The spine straightens - the astronaut can grow by 5-8 centimeters.
• During flights, astronauts' skin stops aging.
• The foot decreases: the person does not walk, there is no pressure on the foot, so it narrows.

10. Every astronaut takes this strange gray thing with him. What is it and what is it for?

11. And finally - a little history of astronautics. How many days was the longest human stay in space?

• 365 days. More than a year to be in a small enclosed space is harmful to the psyche.
• Astronauts lived on the ISS for exactly two years.
• I remember our cosmonaut, who spent a year and two months on the ship.

Text: Daria Vinokurova
Photo: TsPK im. Yu. A. Gagarina, NASA, pixabay.com, Roscosmos

Astronauts are very superstitious people, and their days before the flight are marked by the observance of certain traditions. The superstitious attitude towards flights came from the general designer Sergei Korolev, who was always against launching a rocket on Monday. Today this day of the week is considered "not starting" due to a large number accidents that have befallen him. The crew never says “last” start, replacing this word with “extreme” or “final”, and never says goodbye to the guides. And if a rocket launches from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, then they always write “Tanya” on it. One of the most important rituals is viewing Soviet film"White Sun of the Desert". Russian cosmonauts adhered to this rule even when they launched from the United States on American shuttles.

Why "White Sun of the Desert"

The tradition of watching a film about Comrade Sukhov has been going on for more than 40 years, and it developed during the preparation for the flight of the first Soviet crews. The painting was used as visual material to teach astronauts the basics of filming, which they carried out in orbit. "White sun of the desert" - a recognized standard operator work, with the help of this tape, the astronauts learned how to work with the camera, set up scenes and build a shooting plan. Subsequently, watching the film the day before the start became a significant part of the pre-flight ritual. To do this, the astronauts gather together with their families and friends, and if the crew includes foreigners, then subtitles are turned on for them on the screen. After the collapse Soviet Union they tried to change the tradition and instead of the “White Sun of the Desert” they played “Shirley Myrli”, but the innovation did not take root.

There is not a word about space in the film, however, according to the actor Anatoly Kuznetsov, who played the role of Comrade Sukhov, cosmonauts like to watch how the characters in the picture act in space. extreme situations while maintaining calm and composure. At the same time, the humor of the film helps to relax and relieve prelaunch tension.

The designer Korolev had his own "happy" operator, whom he trusted to press the "Start" button. This man was Captain Smirnitsky, who, as the father of Soviet cosmonautics believed, had a light hand.

Cosmonauts do not give autographs in black ink, and before the flight, the entire crew signs on a bottle of vodka, which is drunk after returning to Earth.
Another sign is that the astronauts must pee on the wheel of the bus that takes them to the launch pad. After this ritual, the astronauts are dressed in spacesuits, and next time they can relieve themselves only in space.

And right before the start, all crew members receive a friendly kick in the ass from their boss.

On the same topic:

Pavel Luspekaev: what happened to Vereshchagin from the "White Sun of the Desert" Nikolai Godovikov: why did Petrukha from the White Sun of the Desert go to prison How Soviet cosmonauts used service weapons What features and difficulties do astronauts experience when eating?

These days, the publishing house "Molodaya Gvardiya" publishes a book by Yuri Baturin "Everyday Life of Cosmonauts". The translation from the cosmic language of terms by a universal author (cosmonaut, scientist, writer) was a brilliant success! We present to the attention of readers an unshakable tradition that has developed among the envoys of the Earth before the start of the flight.

In the evening, both crew and members of the launch team go to watch the film "White Sun of the Desert". They started shooting it at Lenfilm, and ended at Mosfilm. They accepted the film in the early autumn of 1969, but they did not accept it and, as they said then, "put it on the shelf." A. A. Leonov, who wanted to cheer up the cosmonauts on the eve of the launch, arranged for them to give him a tape to show in a very closed small audience. The crew was delighted. Rumors that the astronauts were watching some amazing movie before launch reached L. I. Brezhnev. He saw the film himself and liked it. After this, the adventures of the Red Army soldier Sukhov went on the wide screen.

And for astronauts, watching the film has become a tradition. Once one of the crew members, after sitting for a while at the session, got up and left.

What are you doing? You've got to fly! another astronaut told him.

Yes, I have seen it many times, I know it by heart.

And what do you think? The flight had to be interrupted ahead of schedule due to the illness of one of the crew members. Everyone knows "The White Sun of the Desert", but let us remind the reader of the plot of the picture.

The film takes place in the early 1920s on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Civil War ends. Red Army soldier Fedor Ivanovich Sukhov returns home. Along the way, he saves from a painful death local resident Said, who has his own scores with the Basmachi. Sukhov meets a detachment of Rakhimov, who is chasing the bandit Abdullah, who escaped from the fortress and left his harem there. Rakhimov persuades Sukhov to take care of Abdulla's wives, and he himself goes after him, leaving Sukhova as an assistant young Red Army soldier Petrukha. Sukhov, together with Abdulla's wives, returns to the seaside town of Pejent. Soon, Abdullah also appears there, who is going to cross the sea abroad. Sukhov needs weapons and support to confront Abdullah and protect the women. He turns to Pavel Vereshchagin, head of the local Russian customs post, for help. Said also comes to his aid. Vereshchagin frustrates the Basmachi plan at the cost of his life. Sukhov manages to save the harem, with the exception of one girl - Gyulchatai. Having dealt with Abdulla, Sukhov continues on his way home to his wife Ekaterina Matveevna, to whom he writes absolutely wonderful letters during the film.

The phrases of the heroes of the picture have become winged, many pronounce them, no longer remembering their origin. Among them - "The East is a delicate matter", "It's a shame for the state", etc. Cosmonauts Vladimir Vasilievich Kovalenok and Alexander Sergeyevich Ivanchenkov once on board did not pull out a cassette with "White Sun of the Desert" from the VCR. Some time later, while doing current work, one of them mistakenly turned on the wrong toggle switch, and they heard a loud “Hey, fathers!” from the station's speakers. For several seconds they were in a stupor until they remembered the greeting of the hero of their favorite movie.

The cosmonauts liked the film so much that they began to arrange the final exam for the crew on it. For example, they asked: "What kind of caviar did Vereshchagin eat?" Correct answer: "Cursed caviar". And "What didn't Vereshchagin take?" Correct answer: "Mzdu". Or: "How much does one Sukhov cost?" Answer: "One Sukhov is worth a whole platoon." They said: if you don’t pass the exam, you won’t fly into space. The list of questions gradually expanded, some left.

Here is a list of the canonical questions for this exam:

What is the most exciting scene at the beginning of the movie?

How and when did Sukhov check the time?

How many sips of water did Sayid drink? How many sips did Sukhov take?

How many bandits did Sukhov dug up?

How many wives did Abdullah have? Give them their names.

Name Abdullah.

How long did you wander through the Sukhov desert?

Where was Sukhov going?

How many rams did Javdet take from Said?

How many shots did Rakhimov fire?

How was it necessary to take Abdullah in the old fortress?

How much does one Sukhov cost?

On what day did Sukhov come to Pagent?

What was the greatest value in Lebedev's museum?

What was the lieutenant's name?

What was the name of Sukhov's cat?

When did the old people take the dynamite?

What century were the carpets in the museum?

What song was played on the gramophone?

How many sturgeons swam in the customs pool?

What song did Said sing?

What did Vereshchagin trade peacocks for?

Where is Petruha from?

What did Gulchatay say in Sukhov's ear and how old is she?

What system was Sukhov's machine gun?

What was the problem with Petrukha's rifle?

Favorite wife of Abdullah?

Who was Abdullah's deputy?

What kind of caviar did Vereshchagin eat?

How many shots did Abdullah fire at the oil tanker?

What system did Vereshchagin have grenades? What was the name of Vereshchagin?

What does a person need to meet old age?

What was the name of Vereshchagin's wife?

What did Sukhov leave to Said?

What brand is Sukhov's watch?

What kind of people gathered at Sukhov?

Who beat up Petrukha?

What style did Sukhov swim in?

How many shots did Ibrahim fire?

What was the background of Abdullah's wives?

Who knew Vereshchagin well?

When last time did Sukhov shave?

How will Sukhov feel good when Abdullah ignites the oil?

How many holes were there in Sayid's robe?

What did Vereshchagin not take?

How many times did Abdullah shoot until Sukhov killed him?

How many times did they hit the manhole cover of the oil storage with a carbine?

What kind of oil was poured over the tank?

What color were the carpets, which is worse?

What leg did Sukhov hold one of Abdullah's wives and what was her name?

What definition did Said give to Javdet and Abdullah?

How does Ekaterina Matveevna walk?

How does Sukhov miss you?

How long will there be no peace for Sukhov?

How was Sukhov thrown?

In fact, such questions were tested internal state astronaut, his attentiveness, memory, ability to concentrate and sense of humor.

Space flights became more and more regular. Gradually, the answers to all questions became known not only to the astronauts, but also to those around them. The exam has lost its meaning, as new interesting questions for each next crew it was already difficult to come up with. But they continue to watch the film with pleasure, and not only because they believe that the film brings good luck, but Fyodor Ivanovich Sukhov's nostalgic memories of his homeland are very much in line with the thoughts of astronauts who leave their Earth for a long time. Yes, and Sukhov’s letters to his unforgettable Ekaterina Matveevna with love and respect are similar to the letters of the cosmonauts themselves to their relatives, sent from the board in the 20th century in envelopes with a departing crew, and today email(but sometimes, as before, on a sheet of paper).

And Abdullah had nine wives: Zarina, Jamila, Guzel, Saida, Hafiz, Zuhra, Leila, Zulfiya and, of course, Gulchatai. Everyone remembers her ("Gyulchatay, open your face").

An excerpt from the book by Yuri Baturin "Everyday life Russian cosmonauts(Publishing house "Young Guard", 2011).

How do you sleep in space?

Well, the day is almost over. Now let's study the plan for tomorrow. So... Special thanks for this: they offer to wake up tomorrow at five in the morning and start evacuating the chamber necessary for the experiment, which will begin at ten o'clock. At 5.10 you can lie down and sleep ... The lights out is set at 23.00 - so according to the regime of work and rest. It's midnight now. It's time to sleep.

I didn't say "go to bed", because where there is no "top" and "bottom", it is literally impossible to go to bed. The berth may not be on the conditional floor at all, but on the side panels ("walls"), or even on the "ceiling". It turns out that you can sleep both "standing", and "upside down", and whatever you like.

There are two cabins in the ISS service module (on the base block of the Mir orbital complex) - for the commander and the flight engineer. The cabin is a narrow vertical "pencil case", about two meters high, like a closet without a door, but curtained, vertical relative to the conditional "floor" and "ceiling". The sleeping bag is attached vertically - with the feet to the conditional floor, with the head - to the conditional ceiling. Opposite - a small mirror, a fan, a lighting lamp, on the panels, in addition to a computer, you can see photos of loved ones, a book, some important papers. There is also a small porthole so that you can look out the "window" before going to bed. The cabin is very small - only one person can fit in it.

If there are three in the crew, and also during the arrival of the shift, the rest have to organize a small space "bedroom" for themselves in other modules of the station (sometimes the commander or flight engineer - but only one of them! - also prefers to find a quieter and quieter nook for himself). What is a real space "bedroom"? It's not just where you sleep. This is a kind of personal "lair", where you can retire for ten minutes on a working day to relax a bit or read a letter, make an entry in your diary. To do this, it is important not only to choose a place for a sleeping bag, but also to organize a similar living (and working - computer!) zone around it. It is necessary to fix personal items on the panel with rubber bands or Velcro: a comb, a mirror, a razor, a notebook, pens, a voice recorder, a juice bag to take a couple of sips at night, and much more that a person needs in Everyday life. It is necessary that there be a lamp that allows reading, and such that it would be possible to turn it off without getting out of the bag. The recreation area found should be well ventilated so that it is not stuffy, that is, the fans should be nearby, but not too close, so as not to pose a threat of a cold (human immunity in space decreases). The air temperature should be comfortable. It is necessary that you do not need to clean your things every day, except perhaps a sleeping bag. It is impossible for your "lair" to interfere with other crew members to carry out their program (sometimes an astronaut then starts some kind of experiment when other crew members are still sleeping). And vice versa: the movements of other members of the crew should not prevent the astronaut from resting, accidentally waking him up. It is desirable that there are no noisy operating systems nearby. The sleeping bag itself can be placed anywhere, even on the "ceiling".

There are many requirements for the space "bedroom", it is not immediately possible to find a suitable place. To do this, I had to move at the Mir station from time to time. But here on the ISS it is no longer possible to comply with all of the above conditions. Why? It would seem that now, when the ISS has become several times larger than Mir, it is not difficult to find a corner to your liking. But the station is international, the crew is large, so Russian cosmonauts often have to live together in one "room". And the module is loaded with food containers, including already empty ones, scientific equipment, packages with linen and clothes, etc. Now small research modules (SRMs) have appeared on the ISS. While these are empty barrels without scientific equipment, you can spend the night there.

But here is the place. Now you need to unfold the sleeping bag and tie it to the brackets on the panels, six attachment points are enough for this. If there are fewer, the bag will hang out. You can do more, but six is ​​enough. However, if you climb into it, you will still sway, because in zero gravity it will not fit snugly to the surface. For a person, a bed will be comfortable, partially imitating earthly conditions - a feeling of body support on the bed. Therefore, the sleeping bag is additionally fixed across with three rubber pull-belts, fastening them with carabiners to the loops on the panels.

It may well seem that the ventilation of the sleeping bag is insufficient. Some astronauts in such cases increase its volume by sewing in towels. Others tend to position themselves so that air flow from the fan was directed inside the sleeping bag. In this case, again, it is important not to catch a cold. Of course, the sleeping bag has a hood, you can hide behind it from the air flow. If, during sleep, you roll over in a bag from your back to your stomach, your face will be inside the hood, where a stagnant zone with a high concentration of carbon dioxide appears. In the morning, this will give the astronaut a headache, he will not feel well, his working capacity will be reduced - he did not get enough sleep! Therefore, it is more convenient to use not a hood, but a woolen sports cap, best of all, very thin, which does not interfere with sleep. The wife of one cosmonaut before her husband's flight was looking for a warm, thin and light cap for a long time, so as to take away the weight of packing personal belongings as little as possible. "Why is he wearing a hat?" - Asked a friend. "To sleep under an open window," his wife joked.

It is necessary to settle in a sleeping bag so that your hands do not float freely in space, knocking from time to time on your own face, but at the same time, so that in the event of an alarm, you can quickly get out of the bag. Here are some sleepy tricks.

Now you can, comfortably sitting in a space bed, read a little for the coming dream. Directly from the bag, stretching out our hand, we will add a little light, we will get a fixed book here. After 15 minutes - a couple of sips of juice from a pre-prepared package, turn off the light and - sleep.

The standard for sleep is seven to eight hours, and we have already been delayed by more than two hours. But it's nothing. For some reason, in space, five or six hours are enough to get enough sleep (in the first days of the flight, for better adaptation body to weightlessness, on the contrary, there is nothing better than a long sleep). Apparently, this is due to the fact that on Earth, during sleep, both the brain, which is busy solving many problems during the day, and the muscles rest. There is no need to walk and run in space, so it takes less time to rest.

Sometimes cosmonauts have to work hard for several days in a row, and then they manage to fall asleep for twenty to thirty minutes and thus restore their working capacity. " short naps"They learned in the process of preparation, it is sometimes harder there than in space flight. Another thing is that in space one must learn to sleep with a variety of external interference - vibration, draft, too high or too low temperature, noise.

And on board it is quite noisy, many systems are working - from complex to ordinary fans that drive air. The noise level is about the same as in an apartment on the second floor right above the tram stop - in general, you can get used to it. More dangerous in space - complete silence. This means that there is no electricity, even the fans have stopped. Consequently, the air does not mix, which means that soon carbon dioxide will accumulate around the astronaut's head, which he exhales. However, such a gloomy scenario has not yet been realized and is presented here simply as an explanation for the fact that silence is more terrible than noise. Once, at the Mir station, the MCC mistakenly turned off the ventilation system via the command radio link. However, the astronauts woke up from an unusual silence and managed to avert the danger. So you may not hear the noise, but hearing the silence in time is very important!

In addition to the constant noise at the station, some devices sometimes emit sounds that stand out from the noise background, and therefore cause an involuntary alarm in the astronaut, since they are remotely similar to signals warning of an emergency situation. For example, shifting the valve of one of the systems resembles a blow to an empty metal barrel. But a similar sound can be in the event of a real emergency. Of course, we should not forget about the alarm itself, which is not so much annoying loudness as it leads to an anxious feeling, and sometimes stress. Sometimes it works at night too. But it is better to wake up once again than to oversleep an emergency situation.

As a rule, astronauts' hearing from unpleasant noise does not decrease during the expedition. Although there have been some atypical cases ...

What kind of dreams do you have in space? Not cosmic at all, but quite ordinary. Often dream of the Earth, family, native nature. But upon returning to Earth, astronauts dream of weightlessness and space flight. No matter how difficult it is in flight, space is the second homeland of an astronaut.

Astronauts are considered perhaps the most superstitious people on the planet. Traditionally, they take a sprig of wormwood with them on a flight, as it retains its smell longer than other plants and reminds of the Earth, and it is customary to escort the crew to the launch complex to the song "Earth in the window".

Black Mondays and Unlucky Dates

The beginning of "cosmic superstitions" was laid by the famous General Designer Sergei Korolev. It is authentically known that Korolev did not like starts on Mondays and always postponed the date if it fell on a Monday. Why - it remains so big mystery. Nevertheless, Korolev defended his point of view at the very top, because of this, serious conflicts even flared up. Spaceships on Mondays in the Soviet Union did not fly - the first three years of the space age. Then they began to fly, which caused 11 accidents. Since 1965, Monday has been considered in the Soviet, and now Russian cosmonautics, almost the official "not starting" day.

There are also "unlucky dates" in Baikonur. The start is never scheduled for October 24th. On this day, no serious work is carried out at the launch pads at all. On October 24, 1960, an R-16 ICBM launch vehicle exploded at the Baikonur launch pad, killing dozens of people. On October 24, 1963, an R-9A rocket flared up on the launch pad. Eight people were burned.

Happy Operator

Another superstition of the famous designer was the "happy" operator, who always pressed the "start" button on command, Captain Smirnitsky. Not a single rocket launch was complete without Smirnitsky. Even when he had eczema, he still pressed the button, because Korolev believed that that person had a "light hand".

The same Korolev strictly forbade one of his designers to appear on the launch pad during launch (once some kind of trouble occurred during his duty) and personally made sure that he did not even show his nose.

autographs

Astronauts never sign autographs before their first flight. Some fundamentally avoid signing in black ink. However, the entire crew must sign on a bottle of vodka, which they drink already on the ground, in the Kazakh steppe, after a successful flight.

Cosmonauts are happy to leave autographs on the door hotel room where they spend the night before the start. It is strictly forbidden to paint over or wash off these autographs.

woman on board

They say that because of superstitions, they were afraid to send Valentina Tereshkova into space - everyone remembered the old sea sign about a woman on a ship. But the Soviet leadership did not differ in superstition. In 1963, on the eve of the international conference of women in Moscow, it was a woman who was supposed to fly into space.

Themselves with mustaches

Mustaches were not allowed into space for a long time. During the flight of the mustachioed Viktor Zholobov, there were problems, and the program had to be terminated ahead of schedule.

White Sun of the Desert.

Before launch, astronauts must watch "White Sun of the Desert".

Watching the "White Sun of the Desert" has become a tradition as a result of the training of previous filming crews. This film is used as a manual for training astronauts in filming. How to plan, how to work with the camera, how to set up scenes. Astronauts know this film "more than by heart".

Other astronaut oddities

Astronauts will never call the launch of any spacecraft "the last one": for example, "the last launch to the Mir station..." they will prefer to call it "extreme", "final". Also, astronauts never say goodbye to those who see them off.

At the cosmodrome in Plesetsk, before the launch of the launch vehicle, they always write "Tanya" on it. They say that this name was brought out on the first rocket by an officer in love with a certain Tanya. One day, when they forgot to display on the case lucky name, the rocket exploded before launch.

It is considered a rule for astronauts to pee on the wheel of the bus that takes them to the launch pad. After that, the spacesuit is tightly fastened with it, and the next opportunity to relieve it will present itself only after a few hours already at open space. The ritual seems to have gone since the time of Yuri Gagarin and is still maintained. Others consider the founder of this tradition to be the general designer Sergei Korolev, who always irrigated the rocket before launch.

Finally, before the launch, the astronauts receive a friendly kick from the chief.

But Russian cosmonauts and rocket scientists have no special superstitions associated with the 13th. Of course, few people like this number, but we definitely don’t have a frenzy for “Friday the 13th”. But NASA does not like the 13th very much - they have already been unpleasant incidents. So, the famous lunar "Apollo-13" went to the earth's satellite on April 11, and on April 13 an explosion occurred on board the ship - one of the oxygen tanks exploded.

Yulia Khlopina, RIA Novosti.