CD of Russian love songs

In the entire history of Soviet and Russian spaceflight – as far as we know – only four cosmonauts have lost their lives during a mission: the Soyuz 1 pilot, Vladimir Komarov, in 1967 and the three man crew of Soyuz 11 in 1971. No other nation has such a remarkable safety record and the Russians are keen to maintain it.

The logic of superstition follows that if something was done a particular way one mission and it was successful, then it should be kept that way for the next. Why risk change? One of these traditions can be traced back to the very first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin.

In April 1961, Gagarin was strapped into his capsule on the launch pad; the hatch had been closed, checks had been completed and he was ready to fly. With nothing to do but stare at the instrument panel a few centrimetres in front of his face, he requested that mission control play some music over the intercom. They slapped on a record of Russian love songs.

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin requested music while he waited in the capsule, beginning a custom for pre-launch love songs (Tass/AP)
Exactly the same thing happens today, although the music selection can be broader and is selected by the entire international crew. For every Russian love song there is a bound to be at least one play of “Rocket Man” or German techno.

You can read more about music in space here Der Zufall Aber sie beobachtet The Beautiful Cars Elegance 2013 On peut voir le chiffre 72 Pinault rend deux sculptures à la Chine living with his younger wife.