Artemis II astronauts played a poignant 'game of cards' before lifting off. Here's why
The four astronauts continued the game until the commander, Reid Wiseman, lost
Hours before NASA launched the Orion spacecraft on a 10-day trip around the moon, Artemis II astronauts participated in a heartfelt pre-flight tradition. To honor the long-standing belief, the four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, played a game of cards to ward off bad luck ahead of their mission, explained NASA citizen scientist Benedetta Facini (@astro_benny) in an Instagram post on April 2.
According to tradition, astronauts stopped in before leaving for the launchpad for a quick card game, except they continued playing until the crew commander, Wiseman, lost. Facini explained that defeating the commander is believed to ward off bad luck that the commander might take to the mission. The rules of the game are simple — each player is given a card, and the one with the highest value wins. So, either intentionally or by rules, the commander must lose the game before the crew leaves for the mission. "The games may vary from crew to crew, but the commander must always lose," Facini shared.
Fifty-four years after NASA's last trip to the moon during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Orion spacecraft carrying the Artemis II astronauts lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT on April 1. Unlike other missions, NASA confirmed that Artemis II will carry the crew farther from Earth and closer to the Moon than any human has ever traveled. Moreover, the agency shared that the trailblazing mission is expected to explore the impact of deep space travel on the human body, mind, and behavior. "Results will help the agency build future interventions, protocols, and preventative measures to best protect astronauts on future missions to the lunar surface and to Mars," NASA added.
Some may see the pre-flight NASA tradition as a way to relieve anxiety and tension before a stressful mission, while others may perceive it as yet another superstition. A study of 114 participants at James Cook University Singapore found that following luck-based superstitions in stressful situations had a positive psychological effect. Some participants were given a pen they were told was lucky, while others received a pen without any such notion. In the end, the study revealed that participants with a "lucky" pen experienced less anxiety when exposed to stress. They also perceived their own performance better than those without a lucky pen.
Similarly, research by Neha Pirwani, Richárd Gábor Szamosi, and others observed that superstition is prevalent in the sports industry as well. The analysis found that younger athletes are more likely to follow superstitious beliefs. In fact, 55.1% of athletes engaged in at least one superstition. Moreover, over 90% followed sport-related rituals. It means that even though following certain beliefs before a stressful event may not guarantee success, it definitely helps some people release stress and feel optimistic about the situation.
Meanwhile, people online loved the beautiful tradition of playing cards before the rocket launch; for instance, @mohitsperspective.mb commented, "1. Psychologically, the Commander must realize that he might lose to luck but can win through the hard work that he is about to do. 2. Philosophically, his ego, if inflated (of being a commander), should not interfere in the process, so begin with the loss. 3. Again, psychologically, to ease off the pressure of 'launching into the dark silence' by having some light moments." @kre8tiv_one joked, "They played cards to see who would be the pilot of the rocket." @phyllisrudokas said, "It makes sense in a superstitious kind of way."
You can follow Benedetta Facini (@astro_benny) on Instagram for more space-related content.
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