Turns out the sky’s not the limit when it comes to a good old-fashioned practical joke.
Here we explore some of the best pranks performed in space, from a forbidden sandwich to a gorilla. International Space Station (ISS).
These jokes show the lighter side of space exploration.
Related: Scientist Admits ‘Space Telescope’ Image Was Actually Chorizo ​​in Hilarious Twitter Prank
A smuggled sandwich
One of the oldest practical jokes performed in space involves a forbidden sandwich.
On March 23, 1964, during NASA’s first crewed Gemini flight, Gemini III, Pilot John Young Produces a smuggled corned beef sandwich from his spacesuit pocket shortly after launch.
He suggested it to fellow astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom, some of the mission commanders but soon realized it probably wasn’t the best meal for the flight. The Transcript from Mission (opens in new tab) It says it all.
C = Command Pilot (Gus Grissom)
P = Pilot (John Young)
(opens in new tab)
in a Interview with Life Magazine (opens in new tab) Young explained that “Wally Shira had a corned-beef sandwich at a restaurant in Cocoa Beach a few days before I hid it in my spacesuit pocket”.
Young explained that Gus was “bored by the official menu we were practicing in training and it seemed like a fun idea at the time.”
But in reality, a days-old corned beef sandwich probably wasn’t the best snack for smuggling on board.
“I didn’t count on the strong smell in a closed cabin,” Young told Life magazine.
Unexpected delivery
(opens in new tab)
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson performed an impressive prank on the ISS on February 13, 2017.
Whitson stuffed himself into a cargo bag, enlisting the help of NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and ESA’s Thomas Pesquet to surprise their Russian crewmates, Andrei Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov and Oleg Novitsky.
“They were quite surprised when I popped out!” Whitson wrote in a Twitter post (opens in new tab).
Pesquet also tried to go back to the cargo but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work.
“I tried… but I didn’t fit!” Pesquet wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab).
Gorilla on the loose
Astronaut Scott Kelly He is responsible for one of the most bizarre pranks in space when he dons a gorilla suit and chases his fellow Expedition 46 crematorium ESA astronaut Tim Peake around the International Space Station.
“A #YearInSpace needs a little humor to light it up,” Kelly wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab) On February 23, 2016. “Grow up, or go home. I think I’ll do both. #SpaceApe.
Now, where does one get a gorilla suit while in space?
According to NASA (opens in new tab)Scott’s twin brother, astronaut Mark Kelly, arranged for the dress to be delivered to the ISS to surprise Scott on his birthday (February 21) during his year-long mission.
Unauthorized Spacewalk
(opens in new tab)
If you’re going to make a splash in space, do it in style while wearing a pair of cool shades.
In 2010, NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer, a Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov in the beam Snapshots of ourselves floating in space Head back to Mission Control for an April Fool’s Day prank.
“You have a real problem, but you know it’s beyond our ability to help you,” astronaut Shannon Lucid radioed the station crew, smiling all the way.
The astronauts, however, reassured Mission Control, claiming they were wearing sunscreen and eye protection (sunglasses) and were securely strapped in so they wouldn’t float away.
“We wanted to welcome you to April, and hopefully we brought you some laughs and a lot of nervousness,” NASA station astronaut Timothy “TJ” Creamer told Mission Control.
“You bring a lot of laughs, that’s for sure,” Lucid replied.
Dinner is served
(opens in new tab)
In 1973, Mission Control became rather confused when a female voice Skylab Space Station in Mission Control, 10 years before the first female astronaut, Sally Ride Traveled into space in 1983.
The culprit was a well-planned prank that NASA astronaut Wayne Garriott came up with two or three months before the Skylab 3 mission took off. He made a recording of his wife, Helen Garriott, talking as if she had just arrived at Skylab for a visit, bringing a wonderful home-cooked meal for the astronauts, during an interview with Wayne Garriott. YouTube channel of the Kennedy Space Center Complex (opens in new tab).
Garriott enlisted a few members of the Mission Control team to play along with the prank, including former NASA astronaut Bob Crippen.
Garriot then proceeds to use their radio channel to relay his wife’s message to Mission Control, Helen is heard saying “I’ve come to bring home cooked food for the boys”.
According to Garriott, everyone who wasn’t in on the prank was surprised. The team on the ground never understood what they did or how they managed to pull it off. 20 years after the prank, Garriott asked some ground controllers who were still with NASA “Do you know what happened then”? They replied, “No we never figured it out.”
Eventually, Garyout came clean and told ground control personnel how he pulled off the trick, 20 years after it happened.
“I always thought that was an interesting gotcha,” Garriott said.
Just pop by to say hello
(opens in new tab)
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield welcomed a strange visitor to the ISS on April Fool’s Day 2013.
Hadfield’s pranking campaign lasted seven hours, over which he slowly revealed his elaborate April Fool’s Day joke on Twitter.
“The view from which we flew Canadarm 2, with some orbital debris in the distance,” Hadfield wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab).
He also posted a photo alongside the post that shows him posing with a flying saucer-like object in the distance.
His second photo is a bit clearer, showing the UFO positioned overhead the world And on the way to the space station.
“Orbital debris appears to be moving slightly faster than the ISS,” Hadfield wrote (opens in new tab). “If it keeps swinging, I’ll try to take more pictures.”
The Canadian astronaut then posted a photo of the saucer flying in the distance with the orbiting laboratory’s robotic arm in the foreground four hours after his initial post.
“Wow, what a huge piece of debris! Maybe I can grab it with Canadarm 2…” Hadfield continued (opens in new tab).
Soon after, Hadfield wrote (opens in new tab): “The object seems to be approaching the station. I think it wants to board us!”
Hadfield then posted a photo of himself holding a small green alien in his arms “I don’t know what it is or what it wants, but it keeps repeating ‘sloof lirpa’ over and over,” Hadfield wrote (opens in new tab). “Alert the press.” (“Sloof Lirpa” is actually “April Fool” spelled backwards.)
Hadfield played well, played well.
follow us on Twitter @space.com (opens in new tab) And Facebook (opens in new tab).
