Why was the tradition of playing a card game with the mission controller before a shuttle blast off started?

Posted by gitterdun in Card GamesAug 18th, 2009 | 2 responses

Nightstalker1967 asked:


There is a custom at The Space Center that the Commander of the shuttle mission must play and lose a hand in a specific card game (appeared to be a variant of blackjack) with the Mission Controler before the crew may board the shuttle for blast off. I imagine it has something to do with leaving ‘bad luck’ behind and on the ground. Can anyone give us the history of this? Who started it? Why? When was it started?
Thanks for those answers. They shed additional light, particularly about the side bet, but I imagine the roots of this tradition go even furthewr back. SUMBODI knows. Aren’t there any astronauts on Yahoo??
The side bet seems to intonate a desire to make certain that the Controller has their best interest at heart because he has a stake in the success of the mission. However, I’d trust them anyhow, because they all are very dedicated.



2 Responses to “Why was the tradition of playing a card game with the mission controller before a shuttle blast off started?”

  1. blondnirvana says:
    August 20, 2009 at 4:34 am

    yes it has to do with leaving bad luck behind. i think it once started while crews waited for boarding to get their thoughts off from what’s ahead, and for some reason someone figured every time the crew lost its last game it went somehow wrong.
    This might became a kind of tradition.

    interestingly before columbias last flight with STS-107 this card game has been filmed and made public.
    breaking a tradition ?

    i’m really not into such esoteric stuff, but when i tried finding something i stepped on this… strange, huh ?

  2. sparc77 says:
    August 23, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    I once met Lacey Veach (retired astronaut) after a speech he gave at Valdosta State University. During the conversation, I asked him a similar question and he laughed commenting that the game was indeed played, and it continued until the mission controller won a hand. Anecdotally, he told me that the little known truth was that there was always a side bet to the game and the only way that the mission controller would get his money was to get them back safely.
    I don’t know if this is true or he was pulling my leg, but it’s fun to believe it.

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