At 15:32 4/1/95, Martha Rubin wrote:
>lklaes@aol.com (LKlaes) writes:
>:Would someone please explain to me the reason for the following Russian
>:tradition:  Apparently cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin urinated on the tire of the
>:bus which took him to the launch pad for his VOSTOK 1 mission in 1961.
>:This tradition has been kept up by decades of following cosmonauts,
>:including astronaut-cosmonaut Norm Thagard before leaving on his MIR 18
>:flight.
>
>If I had to guess, I'd bet that Laika started it."

What's really cool is that the American astronaut that went up with the
Russians recently carried on all the Russian traditions, including the
blessing of the bus!

Bob

--
Bob R. Kenyon, Beautiful Downtown San Jose, CA
rrk@rahul.net