Russian space agency chief Anatoly Perminov put forth a rather bizarre theory about why a Soyuz spacecraft suffered a malfunction on Saturday, subjecting its crew to a punishing re-entry while landing 260 miles off target:
A dangerous technical glitch that’s occurred three times in five years? Naaah. There were too many women on board.
“You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully,” the Associated Press quoted Perminov as saying. “Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass” the number of male astronauts.
The Soyuz was returning from the International Space Station with two female astronauts - ISS commander Peggy Whitson and South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon - as well as Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko. A malfunction caused the Soyuz to undergo a steep “ballistic” reentry, subjecting the astronauts to up to 10 times the force of gravity.
Reporters were apparently startled by Perminov’s remarks, which referring to an old naval superstition that having women aboard a ship is bad luck. When challenged by a reporter, the Russian space chief denied any sexism.
“This isn’t discrimination,” he insisted. “I’m just saying that when a majority (of the crew) is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behavior or something else occurs, that’s what I’m talking about.” Perminov, probably realizing he had said too much already, didn’t elaborate any further.
The last Soyuz to return from ISS suffered a similar malfunction in October, as did a flight back in 2003. Officials said they would investigate the cause of the latest problem.
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