Last week on February 18, 2021, NASA’s Rover “Perseverance” landed safely on Mars. If you got a chance to watch the event unfold at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, you no doubt were moved by the atmosphere of tense but hopeful expectation held by all scientists in the room. The hush as the rover went through the “seven minutes of terror” to clear the atmosphere, the exuberance of everyone after Perseverance made it, and the double-layered masks that reflect the challenges of this pandemic year were all on display. With all that commotion, you probably didn’t notice the jars of peanuts in the room. But they were there, and not accidentally.
Since 1967, the missions out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been marked by the presence of lucky peanuts. The NASA scientists have joked about the tradition, which started after six failed missions leading up to Ranger 7, when peanuts were eaten for good luck. Ranger 7 turned out to be the first successful US space probe to transmit close images of the lunar surface, but Ranger 8 and 9 also went well — notably, with peanuts. Turns out that on the couple of occasions when no one remembered the peanuts there were problems: one spacecraft was even lost right after launch.
The NASA scientists who have commented on the traditional peanut consumption know that the peanuts don’t have special magical powers. However, someone still makes sure that they bring them.
Source(s): “What are NASA’s lucky peanuts?” Feb 19, 2021, solarsystem.nasa.gov. Image https://mars.nasa.gov, “Lucky Peanuts”.
