Answered by Julia Kvach on Sept 6th 2018

The date is April 12th, 1961.

In the middle of the desert, at the back of a dusty bus, a man sits alone.

In a few hours, this man will make history. Humanity is about to be launched into the galaxy as this man kickstarts a space race that will transform our vision of ourselves.

His name, of course, is Yuri Gagarin.

And in a few hours, Yuri will become the first man to orbit the Earth and live to tell the tale.

But right now, at the back of his scruffy bus, Gagarin has a more pressing concern. Literally. Because just like any other human before a stressful moment, be it a test, a presentation, a battle or a race… Gagarin really, REALLY needs to pee.

Unable to take it any longer, he orders the bus driver to stop the bus. He then walks to the right rear wheel, zips down his spacesuit… and proceeds to relieve himself on the tire.

Moments later, he jumps back onto the bus, and drives off to fulfill his destiny.

But Gagarin wasn’t the only thing to become immortal that day. Because of his success, everything he did pre-launch was mimicked and copied by the cosmonauts who came after him, and became good luck rituals set in stone.

These include, but are not limited to, having a huge breakfast, planting a sapling, signing Gagarin’s guestbook and watching the Soviet movie “White Sun of the Desert” on the day before launch.

And, of course, my personal favorite: peeing on the right rear wheel of the bus.

“You’d think with the billions of dollars they put in the Space Program, they’d have invested in proper toilets by now.”

“Shut up Carl.”

Barely two years later, however, on the 16th of June 1963, this ritual created a crisis. On that date, the USSR had decided to set a new first: the first woman in space.

This time, sitting at the back of the dusty bus, was USSR legend (and my personal hero) Valentina Tereshkova (also see Julia Kvach’s answer to Have you ever met a famous person?).

Having gone through incredibly tough training and topped a crop of female candidates, Tereshkova had demonstrated over and over that she was by far the most qualified candidate. Nevertheless, worries ran high. This was the first time Roscosmos was doing this with a woman… and everyone had one major concern: what about the ritual of peeing on the bus?

Perhaps, many thought, it would be easier just to skip it. Maybe they could pretend it didn’t exist and just keep driving to the base. After all, how was a woman supposed to zip down her suit and urinate on the tire?

But Tereshkova would never have accepted that. When the bus was halfway to the base, she ordered the driver to stop. Stepping out, she strode to the right rear wheel, squatted down, and peed.

Then, without a word, she zipped back up, returned to the bus, and sat down.

“Poyekhali!” she barked, “Let’s go!”

Ever since Tereshkova, every single female cosmonaut has urinated on the right rear tire before a launch. Some have done it with little vials of pee prepared beforehand. Some have done it old school.

But all have carried out the ritual.

So you tell me – what is the main difference between men and women?

After all, not only did we also go to space – we peed on the freakin’ bus wheel too.

Poka poka,

Julia

If you enjoyed this article, please visit the original link https://qr.ae/TJUPWg and give an upvote!